"These foxes must be a clan that lived near Great Zen Temple. After all, monks don't kill living things, so it was safe enough to live there, and they could learn quite a bit, too. But foxes were foxes, after all. Though they had spiritual awareness, understood reason, and knew how to cultivate, they still couldn't compare to humans." He flipped through a few more books. The backs of those, too, bore the seal of Great Zen Temple. Hong Yi was actually understating things. The libraries of most scholarly families and wealthy households were carefully classified and kept in perfect order. Even the Langhuan Library at Marquis Wuwen's Mansion, renowned for its collection, couldn't compare with this many books. Hong Yi had only visited the Langhuan Library once, when he was little and his mother was still alive. He had been astonished by the number of books there, but after his mother died, he was never allowed to go again. It was a pity that twenty years ago, Great Zen Temple had colluded with the former dynasty's loyalists to rebel, and the imperial army had razed it to the ground, leaving the thousand-year-old temple in ashes. But the books in this stone chamber were haphazardly piled, like the collection of some nouveau riche who'd made a fortune and wanted to turn his home into a scholarly household, so he'd spent money buying books and then scattered them about at random. By now, Hong Yi had gained a clear understanding of the fox demons. Consort Yuan lifted her head, glanced at the sky, and suddenly stood up. With a single bound, she was thirty paces away; after a few more leaps, she vanished into the forest. Many scholars' notes recorded such things. Hong Yi knew them quite well. "Hmm? It's getting late. I have to go back. Elder Tu, why don't you chat with the young gentleman today? He seems like a scholar worth trusting. You can have him organize your collection." Great Zen Temple in Central Province stood in the heart of the Great Gan Dynasty. It was a thousand-year-old temple that had reached the height of its prosperity. Many books described its magnificent scale. It was said that the temple's halls rose one after another, and every morning, the young monks who went to offer incense to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas had to ride horses just to cover the distance. Hence the saying, "gallop to light the incense." By a conservative estimate, there were at least a hundred thousand books in this stone chamber. "Well, this old man doesn't actually know all that much about it. I don't understand much about classifying books, either." A faint blush showed through Elder Tu's fur, as though he felt a little embarrassed. At the same time, the temple had been a holy site of martial arts and cultivation, as well as a treasury of wealth. "She truly is a sword immortal and chivalrous heroine." Watching Consort Yuan's movements, Hong Yi praised her aloud, but grew more and more curious about her mysterious identity. "Actually, these books were brought out of Great Zen Temple in Central Province when it was destroyed years ago," Elder Tu said with a sigh. "The temple was enormous, with tens of thousands of monks. Every autumn, more than a thousand monks went to the countryside to collect rent. Its halls rose one after another, and horses galloped to light the incense. The eternal lamps burned day and night; the whole place was lit up from dusk till dawn. But then the army broke through, the magnificent temple was reduced to ashes, and its treasures were plundered. Ah, the rise and fall of success and ruin really are like a dream." Buddhist temples paid no taxes, owned vast estates, and drew immense offerings. After a thousand years of accumulation, their wealth rivaled that of a nation. "The Great Treasury Sutra? The Avatamsaka Sutra? The Rebirth Sutra? Why are most of these Buddhist scriptures?" Hong Yi walked to a large bookshelf and pulled out a volume. When he opened it, he found a Buddhist scripture, printed from woodblocks. On the back was an ancient seal reading "Great Zen Temple." It was an antique that would fetch a good price in a bookstore. "You should have a look at my collection," Elder Tu said, seeming eager to show off his books. After chatting for two or three sentences, he immediately invited Hong Yi into the stone cavern to view them. Consort Yuan had said she was leaving and gone at once, without the slightest hesitation—quick and decisive. "I wonder if you could sort these books into categories for me? This library is a treasure of the Pure Fox Clan. Once those little foxes can read, they'll be able to come in and study. That way, our clan can become a household of learning. With this roomful of books, at least my fox clan won't spend its whole life muddled and ignorant, living like beasts that eat raw flesh and drink blood." "Gallop to light the incense... So, Elder Tu, you and your people moved here to West Mountain, outside Yujing, from Great Zen Temple in Central Province." Hong Yi finally understood where the foxes had come from. Many small holes had been cut into the stone walls of the cavern, each holding a lit oil lamp. The oil had a faint, sweet fragrance but gave off no smoke. The light was bright, and the flames didn't flicker. Beyond dozens of large bookshelves lining the walls, countless books with yellowed pages were piled in the corners. There were incomplete ancient texts and scriptures. "These books are from Great Zen Temple," Hong Yi said. "And they've been thrown together—classics, histories, philosophical works, poetry, scriptures, and everything else. There's no classification at all. It must be hard to find anything when you want to read." The stone cavern on the south side of the valley was clearly where the foxes lived. It was huge and spacious, five or six hundred paces across and as high as five or six people. Once inside, it felt like a great hall, not cramped in the least. It was said that after the temple's wealth, accumulated over a thousand years, had been seized, the Great Gan Dynasty's finances became more stable than ever. Hong Yi usually saved up silver to buy books or borrowed them from all over and copied them out. But good books were rarely available in bookstores, and they were hard to borrow, too. Now, suddenly seeing so many books, his face lit up as though he'd stepped into a treasure vault. He even forgot to wonder why a den of foxes had such an enormous collection. Wooden bookshelves lined all four sides of the cavern, each holding volume after volume of books of every kind: large and small, handwritten, lithographed, or printed from woodblocks. They were made of all sorts of materials—bamboo paper, sandalwood paper, silk, parchment—and there was even an Iron Certificate of Merit!
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