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Chapter 165 Compassion (Part Two)

Noon, somewhere in Ci'en Temple.

"Master, listen to me, I feel that the atmosphere in the team is getting worse and worse."

Walking through the desolate and dilapidated corridor, Lu Xiuyuan suddenly spoke.

"what?"

Zhou You withdrew his gaze from the rain, somewhat bewildered.

Today, he originally intended to visit Abbot Liaochen and see if he could extract some information about those 'heavenly demons'. However, as soon as he arrived at the place in the rain, the novice monk in the room said that the abbot had gone to the back mountain to practice his magic and would not be back for a while.

Having made a wasted trip, Zhou You could only turn back and prepare to continue studying the "Susiddhikara Sutra." However, he happened to run into Lu Xiuyuan, who was peeking around and seemed to be up to no good. After a conversation, his itinerary inexplicably changed from "going back to his room to read" to "having Lu Xiuyuan as his guide to properly visit this temple."

"Master, I was referring to the atmosphere in our escort agency."

Lu Xiuyuan sighed, and then said.

"When morale is low, the team becomes difficult to lead. After this escort mission, the guards all seem to be thinking about leaving. They're distracted in everything they do. Zheng Sandan, for example, is even sleepwalking in broad daylight."

Lu Xiuyuan complained for a long time before realizing that he was being a bit rude. He quickly slapped his forehead and said...

"Uh, I'm really sorry to have made you listen to my rambling complaints—by the way, Daoist Master, what did you want to ask me just now?"

Zhou You didn't seem to care about his nagging and continued with his previous question.

"Actually, it's nothing serious. I'm just curious. This temple used to be quite prosperous and magnificent, so what happened to it now?"

Zhou You gently patted the beam next to him.

He didn't use much force, but wood chips suddenly flew everywhere, revealing that the interior was riddled with holes from insects beneath the vermilion lacquer.

"—It's become like this?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiuyuan suddenly revealed a meaningful expression.

"Daoist, you are unaware of this. Although Ci'en Temple looks dilapidated and on the verge of being abandoned now, if you go back forty or fifty years, it was a famous temple in Lizhou, no, it should be said that it was a famous temple in the whole country."

At this moment, he seemed to get into a conversation, and he spoke with a smile.

"Although their temple is dedicated to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, they actually practice the Dharma of Akasagarbha Bodhisattva. You should know that this is the Bodhisattva who controls wealth, so the monks in the temple are also very good at accumulating wealth. Although Ci'en Temple is only one of the Three Mountains and Seven Temples, in terms of wealth, it is even unmatched in the entire Lizhou."

—A wealthy family? Is this all there is to it?

Despite his questions, Zhou You didn't interrupt; he simply walked along, listening quietly.

So Lu Xiuyuan continued his sermon.

"—But what's that old saying again? Right, you have to give before you can take. Where in this world is there such an easy way to make money? You don't know, the Dharma practiced at Ci'en Temple has a big problem. Although it can bring in wealth, the monks who practice there will suddenly die one night if they are over thirty-five years old, and all their bones and tendons will be inexplicably pulled out—their death is truly gruesome, and it is even said that this is the 'compensation' taken away by the Bodhisattva Akasagarbha."

Hearing this, Zhou You finally couldn't help but speak.

"According to you, everyone at Ci'en Temple must die by the age of thirty-five, so how could anyone still come to become a monk?"

Lu Xiuyuan immediately burst into laughter.

"The reason is actually very simple; it all boils down to one word: 'poverty'."

Seeing Zhou You's somewhat understanding expression, Lu Xiuyuan's smile became even more mysterious.

“Lizhou itself is not a rich place. As you have seen along the way, many people in the fields cannot even afford clothes. If there is a year of famine, the ground will be littered with corpses and bones will stretch for miles. But as long as you come to Ci’en Temple to become a monk, no matter who you are or what your status was before, you can enjoy wealth and honor before paying the ‘compensation’. You can even enjoy women and meat.”

After saying so much at once, Lu Xiuyuan took a breath.

"—Actually, for most people, enjoying a decade or so of good fortune is better than living a life of poverty, not to mention refugees during a disaster. Relying on this method of recruiting people, Ci'en Temple once had over a thousand monks—although I was too young to see it in person at the time, my father told me that the incense burned in the temple every day could even block out the sun."
Zhou You fell silent immediately.

He had experienced the Tai Sui instance and knew that what Lu Xiuyuan said was true, but then he thought of something and asked again.

"That's not right, Chief Escort Lu. According to you, once you cultivate this method, you can only live to thirty-five. Although the lower classes can be supplemented by poor people, the upper classes can only live to this age... Aren't you afraid that the lineage of this temple will be extinct?"

Lu Xiuyuan paused for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Daoist, you must be joking. How could the senior monks in the temple possibly cultivate such magic? They only need to distribute a small portion of the gold and silver they earn through fortune, and then sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor—anyway, the world lacks everything except poor people willing to risk their lives."

He stopped walking, and then, with a touch of emotion, patted the pillar beside him as well.

"As for why it has become like this, that's the key point of the story—more than twenty years ago, in front of the gate of Ci'en Temple, a wandering monk who looked like a beggar knelt down and begged the temple to let him stay for a few days and have a full meal."

Upon hearing this, Zhou You naturally recalled the scene he had witnessed when he first arrived at the temple.

"Is it the golden statue next to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?"

Lu Xiuyuan smiled and nodded.

"Yes, that's it."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"This man was once hailed as a reincarnated Living Buddha. In just a few years, he rose from a beggar to the abbot of Ci'en Temple. To repay the temple's kindness, he began to purify its practices. Unfortunately, few in the entire temple supported him—but even with his own efforts, the high monk successfully completed the purification, and Ci'en Temple's practices were thus eradicated of their defilement, becoming a balanced and peaceful method of practice… But…"

When he got to the crucial point, Lu Xiuyuan suddenly drew out a long syllable.

"But no one expected that because of such a great act of merit, this high monk would become the target of everyone's criticism! Hey, what are you doing! Don't you have eyes?!"

Lu Xiuyuan had finally managed to show off in front of Zhou You, and was just about to imitate those storytellers by starting with a high-pitched voice to show off when suddenly, he was almost knocked over by a monk who was walking by in a hurry.

Before he could say anything more, the monk hurriedly bowed and apologized.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see the road just now. I'm truly sorry, benefactor."

The body beneath the monk's robe was extremely thin, looking like a bamboo pole at first glance, and his face was full of deep weariness, as if he had not rested for several days and nights.

Seeing this person in such a state, Lu Xiuyuan couldn't bring himself to argue with him. He simply brushed the rain off his clothes, waved his hand, and said in a muffled voice.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. Just be more careful next time."

The monk quickly put his hands together in gratitude.

However, just before leaving, he suddenly said something else.

“Benefactor, you are mistaken. It wasn’t that ‘few people supported it’ back then, but that the entire temple was against it. Even so, the high monk braved all the open and covert attacks and purified the Dharma all by himself, just so that no one would die tragically because of greed in the future.”

"Really? But I heard something's not right. You monk, why are you eavesdropping on other people's conversations?"

Enraged, Lu Xiuyuan tried to grab the monk, but the monk's steps were unexpectedly fast, and he disappeared on the other side of the corridor in the blink of an eye.

"...These monks nowadays, one after another, it's really a sign that the world is going to the dogs."

Lu Xiuyuan reluctantly withdrew his hand, and was about to say something when he turned his head and saw someone staring thoughtfully in the direction the monk had left.

"Master Zhou, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing."

Zhou You didn't look away, but just said casually.

"By the way, Chief Escort Lu, do you remember that the novice monk who led us here said that all the monks in the temple went to the back mountain to fast and practice Dharma, and now only the novice monks and the abbot are left in the temple?"

"Really?" Lu Xiuyuan scratched his head. "I didn't notice at the time, but even if he was fasting and practicing magic, he wasn't confined to his quarters. Maybe he came to see the abbot about something?"

Zhou You squinted and looked for a while, but didn't say anything more. Instead, he continued to ask questions.

"—Head镖师 Lu, let's continue our previous topic. What happened to that high monk in the end?"

"How did it go... Oh, I just mentioned the target of everyone's anger, right? Well, the rest is quite simple—although the curse of the Dharma Gate disappeared, the effect of bringing wealth also disappeared. Ci'en Temple, which relied entirely on wealth, naturally declined. As for that high monk, he was forced to leave alone amidst the public outcry, and he's probably long gone—"

Lu Xiuyuan revealed a smile that was half pathetic and half sarcastic.

"He probably died somewhere unknown."

(End of this chapter)