Zhengde Temple

Inside the Five Buddhas Hall, Li Huowang saw Abbot Xin Hui again. This time, he was no longer alone; four elderly monks sat in a row behind him.

"Since you are here, Benefactor Xuan Yang, let us make a long story short. We need to hold a Universal Salvation Ritual to deliver him from suffering."

"Fine, Abbot. Let's begin," Li Huowang said at once.

"Do not be impatient, Benefactor Xuan Yang. Danyangzi's karmic ties rest upon you. Before this rite can be performed, you must first still your heart."

"Still my heart?" Li Huowang asked doubtfully.

"Amitabha. Benefactor, your heart is far from still. Your heart is ill."

Before the abbot had finished speaking, Li Huowang sharply cut him off. "I'm not sick!"

The moment the words left his mouth, even Li Huowang was startled by how loud he had been.

Seeing the five old monks before him gazing at him with meaningful expressions, Li Huowang took a deep breath and clenched his trembling fists. "May I ask, Abbot, what must I do to still my heart?"

A sutra with a yellow cover was presented before Li Huowang. "Take this Five Aggregates are Empty Sutra back with you. Recite it three times a day, morning, noon, and evening."

Li Huowang accepted it and opened the sutra. Inside were nothing but obscure Buddhist scriptures, shrouded in mist and clouds, their meaning utterly incomprehensible.

"I only need to recite it? There is no cultivation method? I do not need to eat anything?" Such simple steps were far below Li Huowang's expectations.

When he saw Abbot Xin Hui shake his head, Li Huowang picked up the sutra and headed outside. Just as he was about to reach the door, he turned back to look at the old monks seated cross-legged on their Meditation Cushions.

"Abbot Xin Hui, does Zhengde Temple have cultivation methods?"

"Of course. So long as you are willing to shave your head, leave the secular world, and join this temple, you may browse the Scripture Depository as you please."

Hearing that, Li Huowang turned and left. There was no way he would become a monk.

"Benefactor Xuan Yang, stay at this temple for the time being. Running back and forth like this is troublesome for you and troublesome for us."

This time, Li Huowang did not refuse. Since he had already chosen to trust them, being guarded over such a small matter would only make him seem petty.

A separate side room in Zhengde Temple was cleared out for him. Li Huowang quietly stayed there, reading the sutra they had given him.

For the first few days, Li Huowang was somewhat tense. But after discovering that no one in the entire temple paid him any attention—not even when he went to the bustling Great Hall to watch monks interpret fortune sticks—he gradually let down his guard.

Late at night, accompanied by a single oil lamp, Li Huowang held the sutra in both hands and recited, "My birth has ended. The holy life has been established. What had to be done has been done; there shall be no more rebirth. When this Dharma was spoken, the Five Bhikkhus and others attained liberation from all afflictions in their hearts, receiving it in faith and practicing accordingly."

At first, Li Huowang felt nothing while reciting this so-called Five Aggregates are Empty Sutra. But as the days passed, he noticed that his sleep had been getting better and better. Only then did he realize that this thing truly worked.

After calmly reciting it once, Li Huowang slowly closed the book, blew out the oil lamp, and prepared to sleep. In his heart, he began planning what he would do next.

"Once I get rid of Danyangzi, I'll go find Black Tai Sui. If I can stabilize my condition, then I'll be able to live steadily in this world."

"But Black Tai Sui looks rather vicious. If I really catch it, how am I supposed to restrain it and cut flesh from it to eat every month?"

"Right, strength. I must obtain enough strength to protect myself. But that is difficult too."

Just as Li Huowang thought of this, he suddenly saw the shadow of a human head flash past outside the door. His body instantly tensed.

"Someone in the temple is watching me?" Li Huowang slowed his steps and gradually approached the door, undoing the latch.

He suddenly pulled the door open a crack. The small courtyard outside, lit by moonlight, was completely empty. Li Huowang carefully poked his head out and saw the corner of a yellow Monk Robe swiftly vanish into the dark corridor in the distance.

"What kind of game is this temple playing?" After thinking for a moment, Li Huowang slowed his pace and followed after it.

After quickening his steps for several paces, Li Huowang saw the bald head ahead by the moonlight. He could not see the man's face from behind, but the lack of even a single ordination scar showed that he likely held no high status in Zhengde Temple.

And so, within the deathly silent temple, one walked ahead while the other followed far behind.

As they walked, the monk suddenly flashed aside and slipped through the crack of a half-closed door.

Li Huowang was just about to slip in after him, but after thinking it over, he went around to the other side of the hall and used a finger moistened with saliva to poke through the paper window.

Compared to the Five Buddhas Hall where the abbot stayed, this hall was small—one could even say cramped. The bodhisattva inside, one hand forming a mudra and the other holding a vase, was not much larger than a person.

Even the altar held only two lit candles, leaving the entire Great Hall exceedingly dim.

Someone was kneeling in worship before the Buddha, but it was not the monk who had just entered. It was a woman.

"A woman? In a temple in the middle of the night?"

Before Li Huowang could make sense of it, the woman began muttering in a low voice.

"Greatly merciful, greatly compassionate Bodhisattva, please, grant me a son. If I still cannot bear a son, my husband will sell me."

As she spoke, a monk with his upper body bare quietly emerged from behind the bodhisattva's silhouette.

Holding a strip of red cloth, he gently tied it over the woman's eyes.

The woman's body suddenly shuddered, but she did not resist. Her breathing gradually grew heavy.

With every breath she took, seven or eight bald heads emerged from the darkness around her, palms pressed together as they slowly closed in on her.

"So this was the truth behind prayers for sons being so effective?!" Seeing everything inside, Li Huowang stood dumbstruck. Everything he had believed about Zhengde Temple had been overturned.

Suddenly, he sensed something and spun around. Under the bright moonlight in the courtyard, Jian Dun stood there like a statue. "I've been discovered!"

Jian Dun said nothing as he looked at Li Huowang. He merely gave a light wave of his hand before turning and walking away.

After casting one more glance at the chaos beginning inside the hall, Li Huowang quietly followed him.

Jian Dun did not take Li Huowang elsewhere. Instead, he led him back to Li Huowang's quarters, then lit the lamp oil and sat down on a stool.

"I know what you are thinking, Benefactor. You may believe that the monks of Zhengde Temple are not pure in the six senses. But do you truly think those worshippers are all fools? Why do they come worship Buddha in the middle of the night?"

Li Huowang stood at the doorway without speaking, waiting for him to continue.

"Some want sons, so we give them sons. Those who have left the secular world cherish compassion. This is an act of kindness."

Hearing that, Li Huowang could not help frowning. "Then you have certainly done quite a lot of good deeds, and rather big ones at that."

"Zhengde Temple has never told anyone that our bodhisattvas are effective for praying for sons. The worshippers spread that word of their own accord. We never said it, and they never asked."