Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 529: The bond between us is hard to break

Not long after the servant left, a woman came out from the back and asked the rich man.

"It was said that the God of Wealth had boundless magical powers, how come Rui'er changed back? I told you not to go to Baiyun Temple, what power can such a small family have? It is better to worship at Faguang Temple in the west."

Upon hearing this, the rich man couldn't help but say, "What do women know?"

The woman was furious when she heard this: "You old man, do you really think you can show off in front of me just because you have read a few books in the past two years? When I was studying, you didn't even know where to herd cattle."

"I don't understand what you're saying. It's just that you don't want to pay more. The monks of Faguang Temple are not unaware of the secret of the statue of the God of Wealth. Everyone can guess what the so-called great supernatural powers and the essence of granting all wishes are. If you can buy it with money, why not do it?"

"You chose Baiyun Temple because you valued the immortal luck of Baiyun Temple. Let me tell you, Baiyun Temple is not simple. When Xiao Bin first inherited it, Faguang Temple did consider taking it away, but in the end it was left unfinished..."

At this point, the woman looked a little timid and said, "Originally, I saw you offering sacrifices, and the other party didn't say much, and Rui'er was getting better day by day, so I just pretended not to see it. Now that Rui'er has changed back, it means that this matter is not simple. Instead of getting into trouble, it is better to spend money to avoid disaster and let Faguang Temple come forward to help Rui'er gather some wisdom and talent."

The rich man obviously didn't expect his wife to say such a thing. He was surprised, but didn't want to lose face for her husband, so he deliberately seized on her previous mistake and said, "Since you know that Baiyun Temple is not simple, why do you keep calling it a small family?"

"It's not a big sect like Meishan or Maoshan. Is there anything wrong with me saying that Baiyun Temple is a small sect? The ancestors of Baiyun Temple may have been rich, but now they have declined and can no longer be called a famous sect."

The woman saw through her husband's thoughts at a glance, and without giving him any face at all, she directly pointed out the little thoughts in his mind.

"But a cultivator is a cultivator after all. Since he has the ability to break the problem in the statue of the God of Wealth, it is not something we can deal with. After this, you should keep it safe and let someone worship Rui'er's eternal lamp in front of the statue of the God of Wealth in Faguang Temple."

After saying this, the woman turned and left.

After a while, the housekeeper walked in and whispered, "Master, Madam asked me to take some silver to Faguang Temple to offer a long-burning lamp for Master Rui..."

Before the housekeeper finished speaking, the rich man sneered and said, "Just do what the lady asks. When you fail, she will know how difficult it is to gain a place in Faguang Temple."

After hearing this, Chu Tai followed the housekeeper to Faguang Temple again.

The Faguang Temple, as the seat of Buddhism in this area, was built in a rare and luxurious way.

The temple is magnificent, with smoke curling around the air and the sound of wooden fish and bells endless. Amid the chanting of Sanskrit, many Buddhist scriptures painted in gold lacquer shine brightly, and with the faint fragrance of lotus in the air, it is like a pure land of Buddhism.

"He is a good businessman."

Chu Tai saw clearly that the various strange phenomena in the Faguang Temple were essentially an application of the power of incense and the spiritual inspiration of the temple.

The consumption is only one-tenth or two-tenth of the incense collected daily.

'Moreover, they seem to have combined the incense with the statue of the God of Wealth, forming some kind of connection...'

Chu Tai looked towards the place where the incense was most prosperous. There stood the statue of Qingli Wealth Immortal, which had four faces and eight arms but was clearly Buddhist in nature. Surrounded by strands of wish power, and against the backdrop of the golden light of the surrounding scriptures, circles of Buddha's light were generated.

The hundreds of eternal lamps enshrined around the statue are brightly lit, absorbing a little Buddha's light to nourish the birth data within.

The Buddha's light is pure, untainted by worldly desires. While it nourishes the spiritual charm of people corresponding to their birth dates, it will not affect their original destiny.

'The little monk here is quite smart and can come up with such a solution. Unfortunately, the copper coins in the statue are still filthy. The reason why it has not affected these children now is that the luck of the Buddhist sect here can suppress the filth in the copper coins. In fact, the monks in the temple are subtly influencing them. In the process of transactions, their fate and luck have been replaced...'

Thinking of this, Chu Tai looked towards the back of Faguang Temple, where there were several poor people who came to pray.

These people are quite spiritual and have accumulated some good karma over their lifetimes.

But now, for a few taels of silver, he sold his spiritual light and good deeds to the monk in front of him.

Chu Tai observed closely and was surprised to find that although the whole process was protected by the Buddha's light, the spiritual light and good karma still flowed through the copper coin during the transaction. The most amazing thing was that in this transaction, the copper coin was divided into at least five times of profit.

The first time was a transaction between a monk and a poor man. From the beginning of the communication, the power of the statue of the God of Wealth continued to interfere with these poor people, making them feel that the small change in front of them was their last hope, and that the so-called spiritual light and good deeds were nothing but nonsense.

In this transaction, the copper coins extracted a small amount of incense, vows and luck from the monk, or from the temple.

Of course, it can also be understood that when the copper coins extract the power of incense and luck, the success rate of transactions within the Faguang Temple has been maintained.

The process of dividing the profits from the second to the fourth time is the process of the transaction. The second time is when both parties take out the things they traded. In this process, the copper coins intercept a little bit of good karma and spiritual light from the poor.

Then, when the monk gave the change to the poor, the copper coin intercepted a little of the wealth of the two.

Finally, the moment the Yin De and Ling Guang fell into the monk's hands, the copper coin cut a little bit of them.

During the whole process, the copper coins intercepted a lot of power, and the good deeds and spiritual light that finally fell into the hands of the monk had been reduced by more than half. The poor man who got the small change was not much better off, as he only got one-third of the wealth and was bound to not be able to keep the money.

"After eating the buyer, eat the seller. This is really a good method."

At this time, Chu Tai saw the monk put 70% of the good karma and 60% of the spiritual light he had traded into an eternal lamp. During this process, 10% of the good karma and spiritual light were taken away by copper coins, and about one third of the part left for the monk himself was also secretly taken away.

Chu Tai was dumbfounded by this scene. The monk's junior brother was similar to him. He looked at his senior brother and said in horror: "Senior brother, this spiritual light and Yin De were bought by the Li family. It's not good enough that you secretly intercepted the money, but you also kept a part of the Yin De and spiritual light purchased by the Li family. The abbot knew about it..." Before the junior brother finished speaking, he was interrupted by the senior brother: "The Li family sent a treasure a few days ago. The abbot is verifying the authenticity and has no time to pay attention to us. If you don't say anything about what happened today and I don't say anything, who will know what happened here? If the news leaks out, it can only be you who reported it."

The younger brother was frightened by his elder brother's fierce look and dared not speak.

The senior brother slowed down his tone and said, "Junior brother, aren't you always curious about why the senior brothers are practicing faster than you? Is this the reason? If we don't fight for it, where will we get the resources to practice? Everyone is deceiving their superiors and subordinates, but you don't do it. Do you think you are clean? What you eat, drink, and use, which one didn't use the silver I intercepted? How clean can it be?"

"Let's not talk about the distant past. Let's just talk about how good the reputation of the Qingli Wealth Immortal Yang Wen is. He witnessed the suffering of all living beings in the midst of hardship, and realized a method to transform suffering and evil into compassion. He made a great wish to all living beings in the world, wishing to follow the path of the God of Wealth and give alms to all living beings."

"But in reality, look at the statue of the God of Wealth. Is that a method of compassion? It's basically just a method of using money to make the gods. To put it nicely, it's called fair trade, but to put it bluntly, it's speculation. Every time a transaction is made, 10% or 20% of the profit is taken away. Isn't it just relying on the fact that you understand this method of trading fate?"

"These senior masters are like this, so what does it mean for us to intercept one or two? If you really feel bad, just recite the scriptures for the Li family's child a few more times and bless him with your mind power."

Having said that, the monk handed the eternal lamp to his fellow apprentice and turned to leave.

The bewildered junior fellow stood there, opened his mouth, and when he lowered his head to look at the good deeds and spiritual light in the ever-burning lamp, he couldn't help revealing a hint of greed.

'Why……'

Sighing in his heart, Chu Tai did not take action immediately, but secretly found the person with the highest cultivation level here, Master Zhiyu, the abbot of Faguang Temple.

This Zen master has a good level of cultivation and has entered the sixth level. There is a faint Buddha light on his body. Judging from his aura, the source of the Buddha light on the statue of the God of Wealth is him. It is also with his own cultivation and the cooperation of the Faguang Temple that he temporarily suppressed the magic of the copper coin.

Unfortunately, at this moment, Zen Master Zhiyu was feeling uneasy. He circled around a black stone bowl and tried to touch it several times, but withdrew his hand halfway.

The bowl was as black as jade, with densely packed scriptures engraved inside. Even though there was no Buddhist light or inspiration, it gave people a wonderful feeling that it was a first-class Buddhist treasure.

Chu Tai took a look and knew that this treasure was not simple. It should be the belongings of a Buddhist monk. In essence, it should be just a stone that can be found everywhere, but it has gradually developed its power after being used by the monk for many years. The scriptures on its surface are not artificially engraved, but the traces left by the monk's day-to-day practice.

This treasure is of no use to ordinary people, but it is an excellent magic weapon for Buddhist practitioners.

Not only can it help you concentrate and calm your mind during your daily practice, but it can also help you comprehend Buddhism more easily, and it will also be very impressive when you take it out.

Obviously, Zen Master Zhiyu was tempted and wanted this black stone bowl.

But it was obvious that this thing had an owner, and he was only holding it temporarily, to the point where he didn't want to return it.

"I'm going to leave it here..."

"No, I have practiced hard for a whole decade to achieve my current level of cultivation. How can I let a mundane object break my Zen mind..."

"But this thing is not an ordinary thing. It is clearly a treasure left by the predecessors of Buddhism. If it falls into the hands of mortals, it will be covered in dust. Only by keeping it can we better promote Buddhism..."

"Since this treasure has fallen into the hands of others, it must be destined to belong to them. How can I ruin their chances for my own selfish desires..."

There seemed to be two people inside Zen Master Zhiyu's body, and his soliloquy was full of contradictions, but his eyes never left the black stone bowl during the entire process, and his greedy expression gradually became apparent.

"Since we can't ruin other people's chances, why don't we trade fairly? His son gained a lot of merit and spiritual light by trading with the poor and using the statue of the God of Wealth, but this offering process cannot be done without your Buddha's protection, otherwise his son will definitely be affected. You don't have to do anything, just ask people to slightly stagger the position when hanging the eternal lamps."

"If you feel bad about it, you can hold this treasure in your hand when you get the alms bowl and recite a few more scriptures for the child. With your Buddhist practice and concentration, plus the blessing of this treasure, you will surely be able to easily drive away the negative influence and let the child receive more blessings."

"But isn't this intentional harm?"

Although Master Zhiyu was talking about harming people, he couldn't help but put his hand on the bowl, feeling the Buddhist inspiration inside. With the Sanskrit sound echoing in his ears, his eyes regained some clarity. He shook his head and said, "No, no, this kind of thing that harms people is absolutely not allowed."

Seeing this scene, Chu Tai snapped his fingers, and the power of the Buddhist Dao Fruit Fragment [Fifth Grade·Great Virtue] was activated. A point of Buddha's light fell into the black stone bowl, sparking a point of wisdom light.

When illuminated by this light, the greed in Master Zhiyu's eyes completely disappeared. He took two steps back and looked at the bowl in front of him in horror, "Why is this happening? Why do I suddenly have a desire for this treasure?"

"No, it's not sudden, but I have been affected all along!"

After Zen Master Zhiyu discovered something was wrong, he reviewed the matter in his mind and immediately found out the whole story. He was about to leave the place and ask people not to continue worshipping the statue of the God of Wealth, but before he could walk out, he stopped again.

He recalled that he had discovered the problem with the statue earlier, but finally chose to enshrine it in the temple. It was because after others had enshrined the statue, they rarely came to burn incense and offer sacrifices.

For the livelihood of all the monks in the temple, Zen Master Zhiyu could only turn a blind eye to the problems in the statue. He set up formations around the statue, wrote mantras, and chanted scriptures every night, hoping to suppress some of the problems.

But now it seems that although his actions have curbed the influence of the statue on other people, he himself has been subtly influenced by the power of the statue.

"Namo Amitabha! If you don't make offerings, there will be no incense. If you make offerings, there will be endless troubles. What should I do..."

Zen Master Zhiyu knelt in front of a Buddha character and recited the scriptures devoutly, which aroused the Buddhist spirit in the bowl to resonate with each other, and gradually calmed his mind. But the next moment, Zen Master Zhiyu walked to the bowl again and whispered: "This treasure can maintain my mind. If I can keep it, I will be happy."

Chu Tai was shocked and looked carefully, only to find that Master Zhiyu's pupils were once again filled with greed at some point.

(End of this chapter)