From a refugee to a martial artist

Chapter 284: Insulting Buddha
Heading southwest along the official road, the wind and snow were chasing us closely.

All of them were warriors, and were used to being on long missions. Unlike the last time they escorted Jiang Tang to Beijing, this time they really had to travel day and night.

However, there were so many people that it took half a month before we finally reached the territory of Ping'an Prefecture.

Ping'an Prefecture is located in the southwest of the country. The area of ​​a thousand miles is three parts land and seven parts mountains, rivers and swamps.

The Kingdom of Qing worshipped Taoism and Confucianism and despised Buddhism. Only Ping'an Prefecture had a Buddhist temple, and it was the only place where Buddhism could be preached.

There are many Buddhist temples in Heian Prefecture, and Buddhism is flourishing. Wherever there are mountains and water, you can hear the sound of chanting sutras and reciting the Buddha's name.

Today, Ping'an Prefecture has been run by Buddhism for hundreds of years. Most of the powerful families here have close ties with many Buddhist temples, and even have a custom of giving birth to children to cultivate Buddhism.

There are also some Buddhist temples that accept outer disciples, who can practice Buddhist martial arts and do not need to observe all the precepts.

Because of this, Buddhism had great power in Ping'an Prefecture, with the support of the common people outside and the officials and wealthy families inside.

It is also for this reason that Ping'an Prefecture is heavily guarded and suppressed by military generals.

According to records, when Buddhism was at its peak, there were nearly 500 well-known Buddhist temples in Ping An Prefecture, which meant there was one temple every five miles and one temple every ten miles.

Later, the Qing Dynasty's government increasingly suppressed Buddhism, and now there are only forty or fifty Buddhist sects left, of which seven are still relatively prosperous.

But it also depends on who you compare it with. Lanruo Temple alone is larger than the rest combined.

Only Lanruo Temple is known as the first Buddhist temple because it occupies a large area and has produced many great people.

Before entering Ping'an Prefecture, we saw mountains in the distance with smoke rising from them.

There were common people coming and going at the foot of the mountain, and many monks were passing through.

After passing the boundary marker, you will see a row of thatched houses.

There were several monks in black robes standing outside the thatched house, with their hands folded and their eyes closed. When they heard the sound of horse hooves from Meng Yuan and others, they opened their eyes and walked forward.

"Amitabha." The leader was a monk in his forties or fifties with a kind face. He bowed respectfully to Meng Yuan and his group.

The monk bowed, and seeing that Lin Yan and Meng Yuan were walking side by side and neither of them dismounted from their horses, he was not angry, but bowed again.

"Dear donors, you have come from afar. Here is some hot soup to relieve your fatigue." The monk was very polite.

"The big monk is really considerate!" Lin Yan smiled at Meng Yuan.

Lin Yan had been to Ping'an Prefecture, and he had already told Meng Yuan about what happened here.

If the great monk was here to welcome them, it was not because he knew the identities and purpose of Meng Yuan and others in advance, but because he has been doing this kind of thing here all the time.

There are usually tea rooms on the roads in and out of Ping'an Prefecture for the common people, merchants, officials, etc. to rest and drink water.

This can be considered a good deed, which was taken up by Lanruo Temple, which invited several large temples to contribute funds and manpower.

Because Buddhism was devalued in the imperial court, outsiders who first came here were bound to have some taboos, but after this incident, they would often change their views on Buddhism.

When the group entered the thatched house, they saw hot water boiling inside and a few passing merchants were resting there.

The leading monk asked Meng Yuan and others to sit down, and asked a group of novices to pour hot tea for them.

"What is your name, great monk? Which temple do you practice in?" Meng Yuan asked with a smile.

"I have often heard of this in Lanruo Temple." The monk put his palms together and said. Lanruo Temple ranks people according to their seniority, namely Yuanming Jingzhi, Liaojue Xuanchang, and Chengqing Wuhai. This monk is not young, but his seniority is not as high as Xuanzhen and Xuanbei, let alone compared with Master Lekong.

"So he is a high monk from Lanruo Temple!" Lin Yan laughed. He held a teacup in one hand and pointed at Zhou Ying with the other, saying, "My subordinate is looking for a son-in-law. Is there anyone from Lanruo Temple who wants to return to secular life?"

"Amitabha." The monk Chang Wen knew that Lin Yan had dealt with monks before, so he smiled and said, "This female donor has a blessed appearance. She will surely have a good husband in the future."

Lin Yan wanted to say more, but when he saw Zhou Ying glaring at him, he pointed at Meng Yuan again, looked at the monk Chang Wen, and said, "My brother was sent out right after he got married. It's not easy!"

"Amitabha." Monk Chang Wen smiled warmly, and then looked at Meng Yuan, becoming even more kind, and said: "The donor is as gentle as jade, and has a deep blessing. This trip will surely be successful."

"We have no say on whether the mission will be accomplished or not!" Lin Yan made sense, he chuckled and said, "Big monk, what I mean is that my brother is lonely and miserable, you are a local tyrant, you know the place well, find some nuns for my junior brother to relieve his boredom, they have to be coquettish!"

"Amitabha." Chang Wen, the monk, folded his hands and closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly, as if his ears and eyes were dirty.

Zhou Ying, Wang Buyi and others didn't think much of it, because they all knew what kind of person Lin Yan was.

The monks behind Chang Wen were obviously angry, but they didn't say anything to Chang Wen. They just glared at Lin Yan.

"What are you looking at? Is there shit on me?" Lin Yan was very rude.

“Amitabha.” Chang Wen opened his eyes, looked at Lin Yan, and said, “Monks and nuns are originally from the same lineage. Please be more virtuous and make more good connections.”

"What kind of good relationship is this!" Lin Yan said disdainfully. "I'm from the Demon Suppression Division. Don't I know what kind of people you bald asses are? In the case of seeking a child, there was a nun accompanying the guests. Is this all fake?"

"Amitabha." Chang Wen said no more, stood up, and then bowed and put his hands together, "This temple is too small to accommodate our distinguished guests. Please come in."

"Kick him away?" Lin Yan grabbed Chang Wen's neck and pushed him onto the table, knocking over many teacups.

Seeing that the other monks wanted to step forward, Meng Yuan released his aura and used his divine power. Immediately, those monks stood still, and two of them were so frightened that their crotches got wet.

"I get angry when I see you bald asses!" Lin Yan let go of Chang Wen and said with a smile, "You say you want to cut off love, and you say you want to purify your six senses, but you don't study Buddhism and just want to get involved in the world! But you are all rootless people, and you can't do anything!"

Lin Yan laughed non-stop, "Among the high monks in your Lanruo Temple, I only know three or five of them are virtuous, the rest are just full of nonsense!"

I often hear monks trembling and not daring to say much, just muttering Buddhist chants.

"Let me ask you, how much is the price of manure in Ping'an Prefecture?" Lin Yan asked.

Chang Wen remained silent. He looked at Meng Yuan, then at Zhou Ying and Fan Ye, and finally at Wang Buyi.

Only Wang Buyi shook his head helplessly, and the others ignored him.

"You don't even know this?" Lin Yan asked.

"Seven cents." said Monk Chang Wen.

"I see." Lin Yan chuckled, "Then you have the most monks in Lanruo Temple, so the price of manure should be thirty cents or more?"

This is an allusion, which means that monk's feces are valuable and are specifically used to disgust monks.

Sure enough, Monk Changwen understood what was said and knew that it was an insult to Buddha. He immediately glared at Lin Yan, pointed at his nose, and was about to start scolding him when he heard someone chanting Buddha's name outside the thatched house.

"Amitabha." The Buddha's name was long and seemed somewhat helpless. The visitor did not enter the thatched house, but only said outside: "Your two mentors were harmed by Qing Guangzi, but there is no need to vent your anger on others. Although there are filthy people in Buddhism, there are also upright people. Why should we be biased?"

(End of this chapter)