In the damp mountain air, strands of sunlight fell upon the peach grove as mist rose in hazy swirls.
Great Tail Venerable sat cross-legged atop a bluestone. Though his wolf's head looked fierce, it also bore a measure of kindly benevolence, making for a truly bizarre sight.
A crowd of little fiends sat before Great Tail Venerable. Some scratched themselves, some picked at lice, and scarcely any listened with seriousness.
"All the evil karma I have created in the past arose from beginningless Greed, Hatred, Ignorance. Born of body, speech, and mind, I now repent it all."
Great Tail Venerable recited the morning scripture verse. His voice was hoarse and grating, yet carried a certain lofty ring.
The sound seemed to contain some Buddhist supernatural power. For a time, it rang throughout the peach grove and beyond, as though it sounded right beside their ears.
Sure enough, the little fiends cast off their laziness and all raised their heads to listen earnestly.
Meng Yuan and the other two hid behind a large boulder and pricked up their ears as well.
"A master once said: no person in this world is free of grievance; every affection beneath heaven is karmic sin."
Great Tail Venerable fingered his prayer beads, looking kindly and compassionate as he said, "Today, we shall speak of the three poisons: Greed, Hatred, Ignorance. What is greed? It is desire—greed for visible forms, greed for physical forms, greed for exquisite touch, greed for attendants. More than half the troubles that plague us arise from this."
The fiends swayed their heads as they listened. Nie Yannian frowned deeply, while Meng Yuan listened with great interest.
"Big Tail Bro, if we get rid of greed, can we learn Buddhist supernatural powers? Can we find the path to Enter My Buddhism?" a rather clever Brocade Fur Rat asked.
"Precisely so." Great Tail Venerable wore the benevolent expression of a preacher.
"Big Tail Bro, teach me quickly!" Brocade Fur Rat said happily.
"The moment you formed that desire, greed had already stirred within you."
Great Tail Venerable gently shook his head and chanted, "Desire flows like water, easily throwing the heart into chaos; greed burns like fire, scorching the fields of blessings. Chasing things brings endless suffering, and through the cycles of rebirth one finds no rest. Meditation can calm a thousand-layered wave, contemplation can shatter ten thousand barriers. Keep the precepts and hold to righteousness, return to innate purity; desire little and do nothing, and freedom shall return."
Brocade Fur Rat stood rooted to the spot. It was not that he had attained enlightenment; he simply had not understood a word.
Meng Yuan listened carefully from afar and felt that the old wolf's verse did have some merit. It truly was a Buddhist method for cutting away greed.
Yet the old wolf had Black Mian and White Mian steal medicine and dogs, while Wolf One under him killed people and mutilated corpses. Clearly, this was not the conduct of an enlightened monk.
"Big Tail Bro, what should I do?" Brocade Fur Rat was no dull-witted creature. Knowing this was an opportunity to Enter My Buddhism and cultivate himself, he asked with sincerity.
"Cut away all that you crave and think of." Great Tail Venerable was exceedingly amiable as he smiled. "Every day, you toil for grain, rice, melons, and fruit for no reason other than to feed your descendants. So long as you slaughter all your descendants, your greed will naturally vanish."
What Great Tail Venerable proposed ran in completely opposite directions from the verse he had just recited.
Though Buddhism spoke of entering the Emptiness Sect and severing familial attachments, it did not mean slaughtering one's kin!
Upon hearing this, all the fiends were horrified.
Brocade Fur Rat trembled and said, "Big Tail Bro, I only have those few children. I can't bear to kill them."
"If that is so, go down the mountain and seize fertile fields. From then on, you will have no worries over food," Great Tail Venerable said.
"But there are many people at the foot of the mountain. They have blades and spears, they can shoot arrows, and there are people from the Demon Suppression Division there too. I am not strong enough to beat them," Brocade Fur Rat said.
"How can one prove the supreme Grand Dao without weathering wind, frost, and hardship? So long as you make a great vow, even if you fail, you can try again after reincarnation. One day, you will succeed," Great Tail Venerable said with a smile.
Was he not urging Brocade Fur Rat to his death? The more Meng Yuan listened, the more sinister he found Great Tail Venerable.
"The old wolf is not following a proper Buddhist path." Nie Yannian chuckled softly. "This is planting thoughts. He plants an idea in the hearts of these fiends listening to his Buddhist teachings—any sort of idea will do. Given time, that thought will grow into a towering tree."
Meng Yuan immediately grew alert. "Master Nie, he did not plant one in me too, did he?"
"You did not even collect an egg—what the hell is there for him to plant?" Nie Yannian laughed and cursed. "Those with high cultivation can plant one in you without your noticing. But those with low realms and shallow Buddhist practice need to lecture and plant every day for it to take root. This old wolf's cultivation is lacking, and these fiends have wild hearts. His tricks for fooling people are far too crude!"
Only then did Meng Yuan relax. Just as he was about to continue listening, he saw Great Tail Venerable look their way.
Clearly, Nie Yannian had spoken a little too loudly and alerted him.
"Since you have come, benefactors, why not show yourselves?" Great Tail Venerable smiled as he rolled his prayer beads, every inch the virtuous eminent monk.
Nie Yannian stepped out from hiding, and Meng Yuan and Ren Debiao hurriedly followed, taking up positions on either side of him.
The two sides faced each other across a mountain stream.
Seeing three people carrying blades, the timid fiends had already fled, while the bolder, nosier ones climbed peach trees to watch the excitement.
"You mangy-headed wolf, your Buddhist teachings are not particularly profound!" Nie Yannian threw back his head and laughed, one hand resting on the hilt at his waist.
"Amitabha. You are one beyond the secular world, benefactor. You do not keep the precepts and do not understand Buddhist teachings, so this humble monk does not blame you," Great Tail Venerable said with surprising composure.
"You mangy-headed wolf, did you come from the west, or from Lanruo Temple?" Nie Yannian asked again.
West of Qing Kingdom lay a vast and boundless Buddhist nation, where both humans and demons mostly cultivated Buddhist teachings.
Lanruo Temple, meanwhile, was in Peaceful Prefecture of Yun Province. It was also the only Buddhist temple within Qing Kingdom's borders. At the same time, Peaceful Prefecture was the only place in Qing Kingdom where Buddhist teachings could be spread and Buddhist temples established.
"You are clinging to appearances, benefactor."
Great Tail Venerable held his prayer beads in both furry hands and pressed his palms together. "We who cultivate Buddhist teachings naturally come from where we came from and go where we are going."
Hearing this, Nie Yannian turned his head and lectured Meng Yuan and Ren Debiao. "That is how these bald donkeys are. They read a few Buddhist scriptures, think they have gained some ability, then spend all day trying to trade Zen riddles and spout senseless nonsense. In truth, they are full of shit!"
Great Tail Venerable did not get angry. Instead, he asked, "Your words sound very familiar, benefactor. Might you be a fellow cultivator from the Demon Suppression Division?"
"I quit working for the Demon Suppression Division long ago!" Nie Yannian hugged his blade to his chest and said disdainfully, "But I have not let my craft of skinning and bone-cutting grow rusty."
Another batch of fiends who had remained to watch fled. Wolf One and Wolf Two repeatedly shouted for them to stop, but to no avail.
"Amitabha. Fellow cultivator, your murderous karma is too heavy. Why not return to my Buddhist path, cleanse yourself, and in your next life still enter my Pure Land?" Great Tail Venerable recited the Buddha's name with great sincerity.
"Something is wrong with your Buddhism!" Nie Yannian said with a laugh as he strode forward. "Is stealing medicine and dogs one of your Buddhist rules too?"
"If one does not steal, how are the strong and weak any different from us?" Great Tail Venerable replied.
"And inciting filthy rats to go down the mountain and harm people is Buddhist doctrine too?" Nie Yannian asked.
"All living beings are equal. Yet the human race occupies our forests, seizes our lands, and kills our kind. Must we simply stretch out our necks and await slaughter?" Great Tail Venerable pressed his palms together, and there was even a trace of sorrowful compassion in his eyes. "If we do not kill, hatred will never cease."
Meng Yuan heard it clearly. Great Tail Venerable did not actually possess any deep understanding of Buddhist teachings, but he could use those Buddhist principles to construct a logic of his own and make it all seem self-consistent.
Therefore, one could never win a scripture debate against this sort of person. Put kindly, they were stubborn to the core; put bluntly, their brains had been filled with cult-like rhetoric.
"You are from the Sudden Enlightenment faction!" Sure enough, Nie Yannian had not been asking questions to debate scripture, but to probe the other party's origins.
"Amitabha." Great Tail Venerable instead looked sincerely eager to learn. "Where is this Sudden Enlightenment faction? How have I never heard of this Buddhist temple?"
"Half-baked!" Nie Yannian became even more contemptuous as he drew his blade and walked forward.
"Fellow cultivator, your killing intent is too heavy and your sins too deep. I fear you will not die well." Great Tail Venerable spoke the most venomous words in the gentlest tone, smiling all the while. "Would the two young benefactors be willing to Enter My Buddhism and receive my instruction?"
This old wolf was truly bizarre. They were about to strip to the waist and fight, yet he still had to drag out this useless nonsense!
"I am Complete with the Five Poisons. Master, rather than save others, save yourself!" Meng Yuan called loudly.
Seeing this, Ren Debiao had wanted to shout something as well, but in the end, he could not squeeze out a single word.
"The sea of suffering has no shore; turn back, and you will find land."
Great Tail Venerable sat cross-legged, palms pressed together, and said mournfully, "The three of you are sunk deep in the sea of suffering, yet remain stubborn and unrepentant!"
As he spoke, Great Tail Venerable ripped off his bright red kasaya and flung it into the sky, revealing a tattered monk's robe beneath.
With his palms pressed together, a savage expression appeared on his face. Faint Buddhist light radiated from his body. "Aiyaa! Since that is the case, this humble monk knows a little about fists and feet as well! The three of you, come at me together!"
"There is no need for three against you. I alone am enough!" Nie Yannian stepped forward.
"Ha ha ha! Arrogant fool!" Great Tail Venerable roared. His two furry hands came together as he formed hand seals, then he shouted in a deep voice, "Screening Emotions and Eliminating Falsehood, let the heart illuminate the void! Supernatural Power of Spiritual Travel, open! Supernatural Power of Divine Vision, open! Supernatural Power of Divine Hearing, open!"
After chanting, Great Tail Venerable seized the Buddhist staff beside him and leapt into the air, stepping onto the bright red kasaya still floating overhead. Buddhist light spilled from his body as he shot straight toward Nie Yannian.
The mountain wind was cool, secluded grass grew along the stream, and orioles sang deep in the trees. By now, the sky had turned from clear to overcast. Spring rain was on its way.
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