Truth be told, although Ding Feixiong had weathered strife and deadly battles in his day, their roots lay chiefly in martial arts-in the Returning Origin Pill and the Returning Origin Art, and in the grudges, affections, and vendettas stirred up by conflicts in the Rivers and Lakes.
This time, however, what Monk Wufa witnessed was a true age of chaos. Although Great Yan's dynasty still endured in name, the court's hold over the realm had clearly weakened considerably.
A single letter, a few sheets of paper, could not record very much. Yet even in those few pages, Yi Shuyuan seemed to have traveled alongside Monk Wufa from Xiangshan Monastery through the provinces of Southern Yan.
Throughout his journey, Monk Wufa was a monk, yet he was more than merely a monk.
He could beg for alms, or trade his labor for food: hauling loads, building walls, conducting ritual ceremonies, or taking the place of an ox to pull farming implements through the fields.
The seeds in his cloth sack had not gone to waste either. Later, they brought hope to people who were barely able to hold on.
A monk could cherish compassion, but he did not mind taking on a vajra guardian's wrathful glare. He had broken the precepts against killing, anger, and eating meat more than once.
Truth be told, there were times when he seemed less and less like a monk. Yet sometimes, when he kept things simple rather than weighing everything against Buddhist teachings, his heart grew less troubled, and afterward he gained new insights into those teachings.
Then, while spending a night seated in meditation inside an abandoned tower, Monk Wufa encountered several people from the Rivers and Lakes. Chi Qinghu and Mai Lingfei were among them.
The moment Chi Qinghu saw Monk Wufa, he