Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 561: Interest on Loans and Interest on Interest

"Daoyou has a keen eye."

The little monk put his hands together, changed his address, and sighed, "Just as you said, the children of Mr. Fei have been more or less affected by the power of the Qingli Caixian Dao Fruit. Now their fates are entangled in the same place. Although we can solve it, it will be troublesome to deal with it later."

"Can you tell me what the trouble is?"

Chu Tai had already guessed the source of the trouble, but now he needed the monk in front of him to say it himself.

The other party also understood Chu Tai's thoughts. After a moment of silence, he said, "They are just some officials in the government. Although they did not cause any direct damage to the Buddhist temple, the subsequent impact is not small, and it is very troublesome to deal with."

"I see. Monk, you also know that this matter is troublesome to deal with, and you still ask me why I don't help? You deserve to be killed."

Chu Tai's answer made the little monk close his eyes slightly, and whispered: "Daoyou, you have a good cultivation and hope to become an immortal. You came here today because of fate. Although I don't know what you are asking for, I can feel that your fate lies with old donor Fei."

Chu Tai was a little surprised when he heard this. He didn't expect that the little monk had such insight, but he didn't intend to accept it.

"But he's not the only one. If you want my help, you can't let me work for nothing."

The young monk looked at Chu Tai, with some doubt in his eyes, as if he couldn't understand why Chu Tai could say such words. After a moment's silence, he said, "What do you want, fellow Taoist?"

"I should be the one asking you this. What do you think your devout believer is worth? Especially since this believer was a devout believer in the Reclining Buddha Temple in his previous life and the previous life before that, and he has been a believer for three lifetimes. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be able to ascend to heaven in this life. Now that something has gone wrong, can you really watch him sink?"

Chu Tai, sensing the other party's emotional change, deliberately made a mercenary expression, which made the confusion in the little monk's eyes turn into a little disgust. It was obvious that he regarded Chu Tai as a guy who took advantage of the situation.

Just as the young monk was about to speak, an old voice sounded from behind: "Changfa, please step back first."

Looking up, Chu Tai saw a precious light emerging from a pool on the mural, and then a skinny and tall old monk, holding a milky white Buddha light like a full moon in his hand, walked on the waves in the mural and came in front of him in an instant.

"Namo Amitabha! Daoist friend, I wonder if this talisman can be used as a reward. Please do it?"

Chu Tai looked intently and saw that the old monk was holding a jade leaf in his hand. Its appearance was somewhat similar to the leaf of the Taiyin spiritual root Solomon fairy tree that the immortals brought into the human world from the Qingxu Mansion in the Daluo Tianyue Palace in the past.

However, at this moment, the jade leaf was inscribed with Buddhist scriptures, causing a soft golden Buddha light to flow on the jade leaf, which looked like condensed moonlight.

The old monk handed it to Chu Tai and explained its origin and efficacy.

"This is a leaf from the Alsophila spinulosa tree behind my Reclining Buddha Temple that has been nurtured for a thousand years. Over the past thousand years, it has been influenced by Buddhist incense and cleansed by the Buddha's light day and night, giving rise to Buddha nature. I also wrote Buddhist scriptures with my own fingertip blood, and refined it with Buddhist teachings, giving it magical power. It is somewhat mysterious."

Upon hearing this, Chu Tai did not answer immediately, but asked a question as if unintentionally.

"I heard that the Solomon's Fairy Tree and the Western Buddha Tree, Alsophila spinulosa, come from the same source. Now that I see it, it seems to make sense."

The young monk Changfa was slightly angry when he heard this, as if he felt that Chu Tai's words were slanderous. But the old monk waved his hand and said, "You are joking, fellow Taoist. The Solomon tree is a spiritual root that grew in the moon sky of my Buddhist sect. It has been influenced by Buddhism since its birth. It is normal and not surprising that it has similarities with the Buddha tree Alsophila spinulosa."

"However, although the two are similar in appearance, their inner meanings are very different. The Solomon's Fairy Tree is only a thing of the Moon, while the Alsophila Buddha Tree is the place where the Buddha once attained Nirvana. In addition, the acquired environment is different, so the effects of the treasures are even more different. If my talisman is written with Solomon's leaves, it would be best to choose the scriptures of the Moonlight Bodhisattva, while the Alsophila leaves are more suitable for scriptures such as Nirvana, enlightenment, and purity, and can also better restrain the hidden dangers of the Wealth Immortal Dao Fruit."

Chu Tai played with the Alsophila jade leaf in his hand, feeling the Dharma meaning within. Just as the old monk in front of him said, the power contained in it was not the moonlight of the moon, but a kind of pure feeling similar to that after being washed away all the impurities.

As for why Chu Tai felt that its light was like moonlight, it was because the scripture written on it was "Namo Pure Moon Tathagata's Original Vow Sutra".

This sutra praises the supreme merits of the Pure Moon Tathagata, saying that the Buddha's brilliance is like the moon above, and the hearts of sentient beings are like water below. If faith and aspiration are complete, the water will become clear and the moon will appear, purifying people's body and mind, eliminating all suffering and disasters, and releasing all karma.

In terms of effect, this scripture is very targeted at the hidden dangers of the Shangcaixiandao Fruit.

Chu Tai smiled and said, "The monk has prepared such a treasure, but he is reluctant to act. Is there any hidden danger behind it? Otherwise, why don't you give this jade leaf to the old man?"

Chang Fa couldn't hold back any longer after hearing this, and stepped forward and said, "Saving people is urgent, but it's not necessary. The problem of old donor Fei's family not only affects many people, but also requires medical treatment. It can't be solved by one or two magic weapons."

"So, you just want to use a magic weapon to get rid of me?"

Chu Tai seemed to be looking for trouble and asked them why they allowed the problem to become more serious, why they did not deal with it earlier, and why they were unwilling to take action now.

Changfa avoided Chutai's gaze and didn't know how to respond.

Seeing this, the old monk sighed and stepped forward to explain.

"To put it bluntly, this matter is also the fault of old guys like us. At the beginning, we were concerned about the officials in the government office, and we saw that the blessing of the God of Wealth would not cause much trouble, so we simply warned them and let them do what they wanted. We never thought that praying under the statue of the God of Wealth could also guarantee each other, and make a second or third prayer, and obtain resources far more valuable than what they have themselves."

"Today, several large families except the Fei family have relied on mutual guarantees to continuously obtain a large amount of resources from the statue of the God of Wealth. According to the value given by the God of Wealth, it is enough to exchange the fate of all the people living in the mountain three or four times. However, the part that those families need to repay later is more than double the original resources, enough to buy and sell all the people living in the mountain seven or eight times."

"In order to ensure that their own resources can be traded normally, and to ensure that they will not be directly swallowed up by the Wealth Immortal Dao Fruit due to breach of contract, those originally kind families have become more and more radical, their mindsets have gradually become extreme, and they gradually stop considering themselves the same as ordinary people and start treating people as animals."

"Although the Fei family is better off, the number of resource transactions among the people around them is constantly increasing. In order to keep up with the crowd, they can only pray to the Wealth Fairy. In this way, the merits and blessings accumulated in the past will gradually dissipate. If this trend continues, it won't be long before everyone down the mountain will become slaves of the Wealth Fairy."

Chu Tai had already heard the problem and whispered, "This behavior is obviously against humanity and law, so the court doesn't care?"

"Why should I care? The Wealth Fairy was originally promoted by the imperial court. Moreover, the people living down the mountain have obtained their future resources from the Wealth Fairy through constant prayers. Not only are they living a better life, but the officials have also gained a lot of benefits through taxation and started to build roads and bridges to benefit the people. Who dares to stop it at this time? If something goes wrong, who will take responsibility?"

Changfa's answer made Chu Tai very unhappy. He whispered, "Isn't it time to stand up for sentient beings at this moment when we receive the incense of sentient beings? Why are you hesitating to act when you know sentient beings will suffer in the future? Is this what you call compassion and saving the world?"

(End of this chapter)