Da Zaojun

Chapter 186 Loot from the Confiscated Property
Chen Xiu stayed in the vegetarian monk's secret realm for half a month. When he came out, he was all smiles, clearly having gained a lot of benefits.

It was here that Lü Han also completed the rituals for the ninth-rank legal officer in litigation, thus becoming a double-rank official.

Then, boxes of gold and silver jewelry, martial arts manuals, and all kinds of elixirs were carried out of the secret realm.

These were all the spoils of confiscation.

Chen Xiu then handed a box to Song Wuji: "These are all talismans, containers for warding off evil spirits, and some fragments of the Golden Body of Fortune. They were all found in the Buddhist temple."

Song Wuji looked inside and saw six items for suppressing evil spirits and three items for containing filth.

The six talismans are a yellow sheep, a blue ox, a red camel, a white horse, a bronze fish, and a golden cicada.

The three items containing the filth are a mutton-fat jade bottle, a bottomless golden boat, and a nine-story pagoda.

These talismans can be used to build stoves or temples. However, these talismans are all Buddhist items. They might be useful if a Buddhist temple is built in Taichang. Of course, you can also try to trade them at the Iron Pillar Palace or the Rakshasa Ghost Market. These are all very precious religious items.

Chen Xiudao said, "Every time we raided a house, we would first distribute the land deeds and real estate to the people, and then burn the usurious loan receipts in front of them."

"This has led to situations where, before we even arrive at some temples, either the monks have already packed up their belongings and run away, or impatient civilians have stormed into the temples and started burning, killing, and looting."

"We could have gotten so many more treasures!"

"But this is not bad. Tongtai Temple, which was subdued by the Lord of the Realm last time, was also raided along with us. However, they only wanted Buddhist scriptures or some other Buddhist treasures. There shouldn't be any problems with that!"

Song Wuji shook his head: "I allowed Tongtai Temple to remain the leader of Buddhism, and I promised that ten large Buddhist temples could remain in the secret realm. The other small Buddhist temples and monasteries should either be merged or disbanded."

"The monks of Tongtai Temple are eager to have a monopoly on the power of interpretation. Once they have the authority to interpret the scriptures, it will only be a matter of time before they accumulate more gold and silver."

"In addition, we focused on collecting some martial arts techniques, but Buddhist spells and magical artifacts are quite unorthodox and require the cultivation of Buddhist magical power to use, so we didn't touch them much."

"But every time I smash a Buddha statue, there are monks who are not afraid of death and spontaneously combust in front of me as an offering to the Buddha, which makes me feel unlucky."

“Some monks also tried to assassinate me, but they were all killed in return.”

He had two hundred armored soldiers who surrounded any temple. If anyone dared to resist, they would be slaughtered. The monks in the temples dared not openly resist, but they would assassinate them or spontaneously combust in protest.

Fortunately, they were separated in advance. Otherwise, with 480 temples and countless monks gathered together, not to mention anything else, if some Bodhisattva incarnation or Arhat descended to earth, these 200 armored soldiers would not be enough to handle it.

Who knows, this secret place for monks to eat might have been a Buddhist kingdom established with the help of Buddhist bodhisattvas before the great changes in the world.

Lü Han then recounted his actions to Song Wuji: "In that secret realm of vegetarian monks, although there are some officials, none of them are high-ranking officials. After Xiao Bodhisattva's death, no other members of the Xiao royal family or important officials of the court came to take charge of the government."

"I also inquired about the prominent families, but there was no news. However, they did recruit some talented people, all of whom had a skill."

“Some of these people are craftsmen who are in charge of building temples. These temples are actually ancient buildings with flying eaves and brackets, which belong to government buildings. However, the king of that country allowed the Buddha to live there, so they are very magnificent. We need these craftsmen to build our city.”

“Some of them are painters who paint murals for Buddhist temples, some are engravers who specialize in carving inscriptions, and some even sculpt golden Buddha statues.”

"In addition, we found two talented people who knew how to build water conservancy projects."

“They have all been registered in the household register and brought out, but it is not appropriate to bring them into the city. Should we really follow the ancient methods and classify them as savages or something similar?”

Song Wuji said, "The secret realm is like this, rather fragmented. In particular, the original form of this Bodhisattva Xiao is also a hungry ghost, who crawled out of hell and was the first hungry ghost to occupy the lotus platform. This secret realm evolved with him as the core, so he is either a monk or a starving corpse."

"Everything else is just background; it was only after I killed it and obtained the Secret Realm Token that this Secret Realm began to change."

"As for the people you brought out, we need to observe them for a while. First, see if they are hungry ghosts. If they are fully alive, let them move freely in one area. If they revert to their original form and become hungry ghosts, then kill them all."

"The second issue is education. If they can be educated, they will change like Xin Wuyai, and then they can be returned to being ordinary people."

"As for what to do now, let them participate in the construction of the outpost outside the city, and provide them with meals every day."

Lü Han nodded to indicate that he understood.

As for the warrior monks who could form a fighting force, none of them were brought out. Otherwise, if they escaped or killed someone, it would cause a lot of trouble. Unless there is a magic artifact like the Tiger Talisman, they can be placed in the Tiger Talisman and become Taoist soldiers who can be used at any time.

However, Song Wuji only obtained one such item from the tiger demon Cangxuan and another from the White Tiger Sacrifice Spirit; both were tiger tallies that could only hold 50 soldiers. Next came the inventory of martial arts techniques.

There are mostly low-level martial arts, since every temple has its own basic martial arts.

For example, there are many similar names for things like Arhat Fist, Arhat Palm, and Arhat Leg.

Secondly, there are the ninth-rank martial arts, starting with techniques like the Asura Blade Technique, the Monument-Splitting Hand, and the Arhat Staff Technique, as well as some movement techniques.

There were far fewer eighth-grade martial arts techniques; basically, Song Wuji had collected about 70-80% of them.

However, besides martial arts, there is another special kind of [visualization diagram], which is a spiritual martial art of Buddhism. It is said that it can cultivate spiritual relics, and all of them are spiritual diagrams.

In particular, a painting depicting Manjushri Bodhisattva subduing Yama was donated by Tongtai Temple. Other paintings, such as those depicting subduing tigers and Asuras, all have some mystical elements in them.

After a moment's thought, Song Wuji realized that ordinary martial arts training involves cultivating the essence of the three treasures to strengthen one's blood and qi, or refining essence into qi to cultivate true qi.

However, it is not in line with the path of spiritual practice. Buddhist scriptures and classics are all about opening up wisdom, enlightenment, and correct understanding, and they are full of methods for spiritual practice.

Just by observing those classics, one doesn't know how much time and effort it would take to study them and achieve something. It's difficult to learn martial arts if one studies the classics, and difficult to learn martial arts if one studies the classics.

Therefore, the wisdom and divine meaning of Buddhist scriptures are incorporated into visualization diagrams and combined with martial arts to achieve the state of "unity of Zen and martial arts". This can enhance the spirit of the Three Treasures and also eliminate the violent energy in martial arts that makes people want to kill at the drop of a hat.

Of course, Song Wuji had also read the novel, so he was very familiar with this kind of thing. He knew that even if he only practiced these visualization diagrams, he might be able to reach the level of "soul leaving the body".

However, he did not need these things to enhance his Three Treasures. Astral projection was not a good thing. Song Wuji had already achieved peace of mind in his Three Realms and knew the benefits of storing essence, gathering qi, and concealing spirit.

"Visualization diagrams involve the mind, and if you're not careful, you can easily drive yourself crazy. Or maybe they contain some Buddhist tricks that can brainwash people. It's better to save them for now."

Song Wuji said, "All the basic martial arts techniques should be sent to the Feihou Temple for a sacrificial ceremony. We should also send someone to make handwritten copies, which will then be stored separately in the martial arts academy."

"Ninth-grade martial arts skills need to be exchanged for work points, while you can try to cultivate eighth-grade martial arts skills, Lieutenant Chen."

Song Wuji, however, was not interested.

Then they checked the useful supplies, such as pill formulas, since monks practicing martial arts must have pill formulas and prescriptions.

There were medicinal oils specifically for strengthening the skin and flesh, powders to invigorate qi and blood, and bone-strengthening pills. The rest were healing medicines, wound medicines, and blood-activating medicines...

Next up are grains.

Besides the incense millet irrigated by incense offerings, there are also some wheat and rice, all of which are incense seeds.

It seems that these monks and ordinary people alike were indeed transformed through the Pure Land Tree and the Impure Tree.

Song Wuji recalled that the Hungry Ghost Tree absorbed the relic and transformed into the Hungry Ghost Treasure Tree, which produced infants that could grow into adults.

I wonder if everyone in this secret realm, including monks and commoners, were all born from hungry ghosts and are eating these incense-infused grains?

But thinking about it, whether it's incense offerings or not, whether it's a hungry ghost or a living person, everyone needs to eat and satisfy their hunger.

Moreover, since these incense grains can be transported to the outside world, it means that not only ghosts and gods can eat them, but also the living can eat them. The Kitchen God Book also describes that long-term consumption can strengthen the Qi of the Three Treasures and the Spirit of the Three Treasures.

"It seems that the fields in this secret realm for offering alms to monks are fields of incense and blessings, not ordinary spiritual fields, but belong to the Buddhist kingdom or something similar."

Song Wuji immediately made a decision, saying, "These incense and rice grains will be kept for sacrifices. When we offer sacrifices to the God of All Trades in the future, please grant us the rituals. These things are definitely indispensable. In addition, we will continue to cultivate this kind of thing in the secret realm of vegetarian monks."

Song Wuji explained his guess to Lü Han and asked, "I told you before that I would have your family develop this place, but now it seems that this place may not be a good location."

Lu Han said, "There's no need to be shy. Perhaps it was once a ghost kingdom formed by a Bodhisattva who saved the hungry ghosts. But now that it has been connected to the earth, it has become a secret realm and has lost contact with the past. At least it looks no different from ordinary people."

“I am willing to teach and educate first. Besides, so what if they are hungry ghosts? The people who starve to death are hungry ghosts. They are only pitiful, not hateful. The local lord is in charge of the kitchen god's work. Why not build a temple in the secret realm of vegetarian monks? That way, the hungry ghosts can be fed. Once the hungry ghosts are fed, they will naturally no longer be hungry ghosts.”

Song Wuji was worried that these people from the secret realm would undergo strange changes after they went to the outside world, but after listening to Lü Han's explanation, he realized that he had missed a point and lacked a broader perspective. He immediately nodded and said, "You're right. Then let's build stoves in this secret realm. Even if they are all reincarnations of hungry ghosts, I will still feed them!"

(End of this chapter)