The Old Monk took the sheet of paper and scanned ten lines at a glance.
"You went to the scripture repository to look through books?"
Liang Qu scratched his head and chuckled. "There's a copy of Maha Karma Sea Observation. I wanted to find a cultivation method for A Fei and the others, so they could take human form and come ashore someday. But every answer I gave was wrong. I truly couldn't think of any ideas."
"Paper and brush."
Liang Qu hurriedly added water and ground the ink, then respectfully offered the brush with both hands.
The candlelight flickered dimly.
Question one.
"When you were a fish, had you ever seen your kin weeping inside a net?"
The Old Monk splashed ink and wielded his brush, his writing flowing in great sweeping strokes.
"The scales of old are today's kasaya; the tears within the net are the sea of all living beings. Those this disciple ferries across are neither enemies nor grudges, but fishermen and fish drowning in Greed, Hatred, and Delusion."
Liang Qu's eyes lit up.
Once he had finished writing.
The Old Monk turned to Liang Qu. "To solve this question, you must not cling to revenge, nor deny the suffering of fish. You must elevate the victim's perspective and become one who ferries the world across."
Liang Qu suddenly realized.
"Master, you're incredible!"
Question two.
"On the day you transform into a dragon, would you be willing to leave behind a scale to guard the rivers?"
The Old Monk moistened the ink, then again swept the wolf-hair brush.
"A dragon scale should hang from the mast of a fishing boat, so children may know spirits dwell beneath the water, and old men may repent of killing through nets and traps. If every scale were shattered in