Donghuang Ziji

Chapter 903 The Secret of Sin

"Wait, where did some of your flesh and blood essence go?"

A hint of ferocity flashed in the young monk's eyes. He saw the remaining evil spirit in the king, and also saw that the disappearance of his flesh and blood was abnormal.

Combined with what the old man said earlier, the king can always find food and ensure that the people in the city have three bowls of water a day, it is not difficult to guess where the essence of blood and flesh goes.

"You are a mortal, you have seen too few monsters! You don't understand the greed of monsters at all. I have seen many of these methods. Now they may just want a little bit of your flesh and blood, but gradually, they will want more and more. In the future, you may even be a virgin boy or girl."

"Hehe, you yellow-skinned rat are well aware of the bad nature of your demon race."

A sneer sounded, and a Taoist in a black robe walked out from the darkness. He bowed to the king and said, "Your Majesty, I still say the same thing. Your choice at this moment is only a temporary measure and it will not last long."

"Instead of offering blood and flesh to that evildoer, it is better to take the initiative and kill him..."

The Taoist priest was interrupted by the king before he finished speaking: "Master Taoist, please do not mention this matter again. Many great monks and Taoist masters have come to deal with the problems of our country of Shali before, but they were all unable to solve them. Now that person can provide me with food, even if he is a monster, I will also serve him and appease him."

The black-robed Taoist chuckled and glanced at the young monk.

"Yellow Rat, don't you have anything to say?"

"say what?"

After the little monk finished speaking, he snorted coldly, turned his head to look to the side, and stopped talking.

The black-robed Taoist looked at Chu Tai again and asked, "Would you like to give His Majesty some advice?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Tai looked at the king. He had a basic understanding of the problems of the Shali Kingdom.

But now he was more curious about how much the king knew and what he was thinking.

"Since Your Majesty already knows the country's problems, I think he also knows some inside information and knows the real solution. Now, if you think monsters can guarantee the peace of most people, why do you want to invite Taoist practitioners everywhere?"

In response to Chu Tai's question, the king just smiled and said, "It's a good thing to let the people have a day of peace."

When the young monk heard this, he couldn't help but be curious. He didn't care about getting angry with the black-robed Taoist priest and asked, "What's the problem here? Why did it become like this? If it really doesn't work, can't you build a canal to store clean water?"

The young monk looked at the black-robed Taoist priest and asked, "According to your level of cultivation, praying for rain shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Although I am not proficient in the Five Thunders Law, I am quite experienced in praying for rain. In other places, I can pray for rain eight or nine times out of ten. But little monk, you know, I have prayed for rain here seven times, and failed every time."

"fail?"

The young monk was about to make a mockery, but suddenly he remembered something and looked at the Taoist with some caution.

"Why did you fail? There must be a reason."

Seeing that the young monk did not take the bait, the Taoist priest suddenly lost interest and casually gave the answer.

"The reason for failure is simple, it's not allowed, God won't allow it!"

Upon hearing this, the king next to him couldn't help but sigh deeply, as if he was filled with endless sadness.

The young monk's eyes widened: "God won't allow this? How is this possible? It's impossible that this Shali country is a place where criminals are exiled!"

As he said this, he looked at the king, who nodded with a sad face.

"Wait, that's not right! If you are criminals, then what is your crime? And why punish an area of ​​land? Could it be that one of your monarchs blasphemed the heaven and earth, broke the moral code, and caused the people here to suffer with you?"

Hearing the young monk's words, the black-robed Taoist immediately retorted, "What nonsense are you talking about? The gods in heaven are the most merciful. Even if someone really commits the great sin of blasphemy, as long as they sincerely repent, the gods will postpone the punishment or even take it back."

"The problem with the country of Shali is your Buddhist theory of reincarnation."

"what?"

The young monk said angrily, "What's wrong with the theory of reincarnation? How can the disaster here be regarded as the fault of reincarnation?"

The king saw that the two sides seemed to be about to quarrel, so he stepped forward and persuaded them: "Don't quarrel, both of you."

As he spoke, he explained the reason to the little monk.

"Although the disasters I suffered were related to reincarnation, most of them were actually caused by my own actions."

"According to the Taoist priest's calculations, the citizens of our country Shali have committed sins in their previous lives and should have been sent to hell to suffer. However, they may have been excusable or their sins did not deserve to be sent to hell, so they placed us in Shali to suffer the pain of the Dead Sea drying up and the boiling water at sunset."

After a pause, the king said sadly: "This is to pay for the sins we have committed."

The young monk suddenly didn't know how to start, while Chu Tai looked at the Taoist in black robe with a strange expression, wondering how he came to this conclusion.

"I know that the Taoist priest is upright and kind-hearted, and he cannot tolerate any injustice in his eyes. He cannot bear to see me offering sacrifices to a monster, but I have no other choice. The monster has already shown mercy by providing fruits and vegetables to our country, and our crimes have already been punished. I dare not ask for more, I just hope that the people can live a better life, and it would be best if we can have a day or two of peace every once in a while."

After saying this, the king bowed to the three men and said, "Please be merciful and teach us some Dharma and scriptures so that the people can be peaceful for two days."

"No! This isn't right!"

The little monk shook his head repeatedly and looked at the king with more and more surprise in his eyes.

He used secret methods to observe the king's aura and his past life, and found that he was indeed entangled in sin, surrounded by evil energy and turbid energy flowing, as if he had committed a serious sin.

But at this moment, he also had a lot of merits flowing, blessings gathering, and good deeds rising.

"Even if you committed sins in your previous life and have done good deeds in this life, you should be able to change your fate and reshape your roots. Why is your aura still turbid?"

As he spoke, Buddha's light rose in the little monk's eyes. Looking outside, he saw that most of the people in the entire Shali country were like this.

Most of them have good hearts due to their acquired education. They are willing to help people in need. They have more or less merits and good deeds. Logically, with such good intentions, their environment should improve. At the very least, the Heavenly Court should not reject their prayers for rain.

The black-robed Taoist priest saw this and stepped forward to sneer, "Isn't this the sin caused by your Buddhist theory of reincarnation?"

"It is because of your heretical ideas that the king is trapped in this. All the sins of the past life have been reincarnated. He has no memory of the past life, and no body of the past life. He can almost be regarded as a brand new existence, but because of inexplicable sins, he has ended up like this." "If there is really a mistake in the past life, wouldn't it be better to punish him in the underworld? If you want to hold the soul accountable, just send him to the animal realm, so what's the point of letting a person reincarnate as another person?"

"Because their sins in their previous lives were not serious, they would not fall into hell or the animal realm. However, there are more people in the human realm who are accumulating virtue and doing good deeds, and they are ranked above them. What's wrong with that?"

The young monk opened his mouth to refute and pointed out a key point.

"Moreover, if you accumulate virtue and do good deeds in this life, you will be able to reverse your sins and gradually live a better life."

"It's getting better. So are the people in Shali country doing better?"

The black-robed Taoist asked back, and the young monk didn't know how to refute for a moment.

The Taoist continued, "Since you can't live a good life, why don't you fight for it yourself? Instead of silently bearing the so-called sins of your past life? Isn't it the sin of your Buddhist theory of reincarnation that makes people have such wrong thoughts?"

Upon hearing this, the young monk immediately retorted, "No! Doing good deeds in this life is not only for the sake of living a good life in this life, but also for a better life in the next life, or even for entering the heavenly realm and enjoying the blessings of the heavens. This is the way to persuade sentient beings to be good, how can it be wrong?"

"Next life, and next life again. If we can't even live well in this life, who has time to care about the next life?"

The Taoist snorted coldly, pointed at the king and said, "Look at your Majesty, he is diligent in his work and loves his people, and he uses his own flesh and blood to feed all living things. Isn't this a great merit? Then why is he willing to give up his merit and virtue and not even be able to ask for a little rain?"

As he spoke, the Taoist looked at Chu Tai and said, "Daoyou, do you think this is fair?"

"It's not quite fair."

Chu Tai's answer made the Taoist raise his head and look down on the little monk, but in a second, Chu Tai's answer made him lose his temper.

"But this theory still has some basis."

"What foundation do you have?"

Chu Tai looked at the angry Taoist and asked, "Does the world today operate the cycle of life and death?"

"It's running naturally?"

"How many ways out of reincarnation are there?"

"The most well-known ones should be the heavenly path, human path, asura path, animal path, hungry ghost path and hell path of Buddhism. Or, doing good deeds will lead to the immortal path, being loyal will lead to the noble path, being filial will lead to the blessed path, being fair will lead to the human path, accumulating virtue will lead to the rich path, and being vicious will lead to the ghost path."

After saying this, the Taoist added: "But both are unfair. We shouldn't decide the future of all living beings so hastily."

"Well, it's true that we shouldn't make hasty decisions, but reincarnation is here now. Do you think there are other ways to divide things besides the cause and effect of good and evil? For example, how do you think nobles, rich people, and servants should be divided after entering the human world? It's impossible for all sentient beings in the human world to be treated the same when they are born."

Chu Tai's question made the Taoist frown. Before he could refute, Chu Tai said, "You can actually regard your past and present lives as father and son, or master and apprentice. If you inherit the soul of your past life, you will inevitably be affected to a certain extent, but if you do not accept the wealth of your past life, you can reduce the impact of many debts."

"For example, after you and I reincarnate, we will inevitably be affected by the soul, becoming smarter or more talented. This is inevitable, but the greatest role of reincarnation is to help us erase the interpersonal relationships of the previous life. As long as we do not inherit the magic weapons, skills, and cultivation of the previous life, we will not be noticed by the enemies of the previous life."

Upon hearing this, the young monk looked at Chu Tai with some embarrassment. He seemed to be speaking for the theory of reincarnation, but what he said did not conform to the young monk's understanding. In his opinion, Chu Tai's remarks were somewhat similar to a new system.

The Taoist was also a little uncomfortable. He whispered, "Then how do we explain the Shali nation? They are no longer simply affected by certain things. They are like carrying original sin and cannot escape it."

“So, is it possible that the suffering of the Shali Kingdom today is not just suffering and torture, but also a way of salvation?”

Chu Tai came up with a completely new theory.

He stretched out his hand and drew a rune in the air in front of the king. With a light hook, he pulled out a faint wisp of turbid air from the king's body.

In an instant, the young monk and the black-robed Taoist both felt a terrifying aura gathering above the sky, which seemed to be about to fall in the next moment.

Chu Tai relaxed his fingers slightly, and most of the turbid air returned to the king's body, leaving only a small wisp wandering in his hands.

The two of them gasped and looked at the turbid air in Chu Tai's hand in horror.

"what is that?"

"The foul air of the Dead Sea."

Chu Tai looked outside the Shali Kingdom. It was almost sunset. The sun was setting into the Dead Sea. The true fire of the sun was burning the sea water. The sound of boiling water gradually rose, and bursts of drums were heard on the walls of the Shali Kingdom.

The sound was like thunder, echoing in all directions, shaking the universe, and upsetting thousands of laws and principles. Countless orders gradually materialized and pressed downwards.

The faint wisp of turbid air in Chu Tai's palm immediately reacted violently, constantly twisting and changing, and producing many changes.

The young monk and the black-robed Taoist were terrified, but the king of Shali stared with wide eyes, staring at the foul air, watching it gradually being torn apart by the sound of boiling water at sunset and thundering drums, and then flowing towards the Dead Sea.

"what is this?"

The king's eyes were red, bulging, and the bloodshot was quite obvious.

"The foul air of the Dead Sea."

Chu Tai repeated it again, but the king retorted: "No, if it is the filthy air in the Dead Sea, then why does it gather towards the Dead Sea? So, the filthy air in the Dead Sea actually flows out from us? Under the sound of boiling water and thundering drums day after day, it is constantly peeled off from us and gathered towards the Dead Sea little by little?"

He stared at Chu Tai, without any of his previous demeanor, and said almost madly: "Answer me, right or wrong!"

"I can't say I understand everything, but what I saw is pretty close to what you guessed."

Chu Tai's answer made the king laugh almost crazily, and then he cried in a low voice: "So, we deserve it, and we should stay here. But why, why did this thing get on us? Could it be that we really committed unforgivable sins in our previous lives, so all the gods and Buddhas are unwilling to save us?"

The young monk and the black-robed Taoist fell silent upon hearing this. They actually both felt that the foul air could not be explained by ordinary sins. If they were really contaminated by it themselves, there would be no problem for them to be thrown into the deepest part of hell.

But if they were just accidentally infected and ended up like this, it would seem a little too tragic.

The king could actually guess this from the attitudes of the two men. After all, this man had invited many eminent monks and great masters to pray for rain, Dharma, and scriptures. Even if he himself was not good at practicing, he still knew some secrets.

The two didn't know how to answer. Chu Tai sighed and said, "Perhaps, the filth and foul air in you cannot be dealt with by ordinary immortals and gods. That's why I placed you here to use the special features of the Sunset Land to cleanse your souls."

(End of this chapter)