The Great Zen Secret Manual

"These foxes must be a fox clan living near the Great Zen Temple. After all, since monks do not kill, it is quite safe to live there, and they can also learn a great deal. However, foxes are foxes after all; although they have spiritual intelligence, understand reason, and know how to cultivate, they are still not as good as humans."

He flipped through a few more books, and on the back of each, the seal of the "Great Zen Temple" was carved. In truth, Hong Yi was putting it mildly; the collections of scholarly, wealthy families were usually carefully categorized and orderly. Even the "Langhuan Library" of the Marquis Wuwen estate, famous for its collection, could not compare to this many books.

Hong Yi had only been to the "Langhuan Library" of the Marquis Wuwen estate when he was young, while his mother was still alive. He had been astonished by the sheer number of books back then, but after his mother passed away, he no longer had the qualifications to enter.

It was a pity that twenty years ago, because the Great Zen Temple had conspired with remnants of the previous dynasty to rebel, it was purged by a great army, and the thousand-year-old temple was reduced to ashes.

Yet, the books in this stone chamber were in complete disarray, as if a nouveau riche had suddenly struck it rich and, wanting to decorate their home to look like that of a scholarly family, had spent money to buy many books and piled them up haphazardly.

At this moment, Hong Yi had a clear understanding of the fox demons in his heart.

Consort Yuan raised her head, looked at the sky, and suddenly stood up. With a single leap, she was thirty paces away, and after a few more leaps, she vanished into the mountain forest.

These things were recorded in the notes of many scholars. Hong Yi was quite clear about them.

"Hmm? It is getting late, I must return. Elder Tu, have a chat with the young gentleman today. The young gentleman should be a trustworthy scholar; Elder Tu can let him organize the collection."

The Great Zen Temple of Central Province was located in the heart of the Great Gan Dynasty. It was a thousand-year-old temple that had reached the pinnacle of prosperity. Many books recorded the magnificence of this temple; it was said that for the layer upon layer of grand halls, the young monks who offered incense to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas every morning had to ride horses just to get around. Hence the saying, "riding horses to light incense."

This entire stone chamber of books, by a conservative estimate, contained at least one hundred thousand volumes.

"This... this old man actually does not know much, and I do not understand book classification very well." Elder Tu's fur turned slightly red, as if he felt a bit embarrassed.

At the same time, this temple was a holy land for martial arts, a holy land for cultivation, and even more so, a holy land of wealth.

"Truly a sword immortal and a chivalrous lady." Hong Yi watched Consort Yuan's movements, praising her aloud, yet he became increasingly curious about this woman's mysterious identity.

"Actually, these books were brought out from the temple when the Great Zen Temple in Central Province was purged and destroyed," Elder Tu sighed. "Such a massive Great Zen Temple, with tens of thousands of monks—every autumn, there were over a thousand monks who went to the countryside to collect rent. Layer upon layer of grand halls, riding horses to light incense, and eternal lamps that never went out day or night; it was brightly lit all day and all night. It is a pity it was breached by the great army; the glorious temple was burned to the ground, and the treasures were looted clean. Alas, the rise and fall of success and failure is truly like a dream."

Buddhist temples did not need to pay taxes, possessed vast farmlands, and their incense offerings were at their peak; a thousand years of accumulation made them wealthier than a nation.

"Great Treasury Sutra? Avatamsaka Sutra? Rebirth Sutra? Why are most of them Buddhist scriptures?" Hong Yi walked to a large bookshelf, pulled out a book, and opened it. It was a Buddhist scripture, woodblock printed, with an ancient seal on the back. The seal read "Great Zen Temple." It was an ancient text that would be worth a considerable sum if sold to a bookstore.

"Sir, please take a tour of my collection." Elder Tu seemed to want to show off his collection to someone. After speaking a few sentences, he immediately invited Hong Yi into the stone cave to view his books.

Consort Yuan had left just like that, without the slightest hesitation, clean and decisive.

"I wonder if you could organize a classification for me? This library is the treasure of my Pure Fox Clan. Once the little foxes can understand the written word, they will be able to come in and read. It can be considered a scholarly family; with this room of books, my fox clan will at least not spend their lives in confusion, acting as beasts that only know how to eat raw meat and drink blood."

"Riding horses to light incense... so, Elder Tu, you all migrated from the Great Zen Temple in Central Province to the West Mountain of Yujing." Hong Yi finally understood the origin of these foxes.

The stone walls of the cave were chiseled with many small holes, and in each hole, an oil lamp was lit. The oil was of an unknown type, carrying a faint fragrance without any smoke. The light was also very bright, and the flames did not flicker. Beyond the dozens of large bookshelves on the four walls, countless yellowed, paper-bound books were piled up in the corners. There were incomplete ancient texts and scriptures.

"These are books from the Great Zen Temple," Hong Yi said. "And these books—classics, histories, philosophy, literature, scriptures, and so on—are all placed together. There is no classification at all, so I fear they will be hard to find when reading."

A stone cave on the south side of the valley was clearly where the foxes lived. The cave was large and spacious, measuring a full five or six hundred paces in circumference and five or six people high. Walking inside felt like entering a grand hall; there was no sense of confinement at all.

It was said that the thousand years of accumulation in this temple, after its wealth was plundered, made the finances of the Great Gan Dynasty unprecedentedly stable.

Hong Yi usually saved up silver to buy books, or borrowed them from everywhere, copying them once borrowed. However, good books were rarely printed in bookstores, and they were hard to borrow. Now, suddenly seeing so many books, his face immediately revealed an expression as if he had walked into a treasure vault. He even forgot why a den of foxes would have so many books.

The four walls of the stone cave were entirely lined with wooden bookshelves. On the shelves were volumes of all kinds: large ones, small ones, hand-copied editions, stone-rubbed editions, woodblock prints. The paper quality also varied, including bamboo paper, sandalwood paper, silk scrolls, sheepskin scrolls, and even an Iron Certificate of Merit!