Human Strength Has Its Limits

Mo Wenjian watched the fire spread, unable to keep himself from falling into thought.

Everyone on Earth knew that fire required three elements: fuel, heat, and oxygen.

From the perspective of fuel, the way to fight a fire was to dig a firebreak.

Without fuel in the firebreak, the fire could not spread.

Given the special nature of the Thousand Buddha Hall, this method was clearly out of the question.

Tearing down the Buddhist halls and damaging the Buddha statues would be tantamount to destroying Buddhism. The Shaolin monks would never accept it.

From the perspective of heat, the way to fight a fire was to throw water on it.

Water could effectively lower the temperature. As long as it fell below the ignition point, the fire would naturally go out.

Unfortunately, the water in Shaolin Temple had already run out, and fetching more from the foot of the mountain would be like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a cup of water.

This method was sound in theory, but utterly impractical in reality.

From the perspective of oxygen, the way to fight a fire was to cut off its oxygen supply.

On Earth in the twenty-first century, a foam fire extinguisher would clearly have been the best choice.

Unfortunately, this was not Earth in the twenty-first century, but a world of national martial arts in the nineteenth century. Foam fire extinguishers had yet to be invented.

Mo Wenjian could not find a foam fire extinguisher, but the principle behind one gave him an idea for putting out the fire.

"Amitabha!"

Mo Wenjian pressed his palms together and invoked the Buddha's name.

Surging Qi and Blood burst forth from Mo Wenjian's body.

Ordinary Qi and Blood looked insubstantial.

Mo Wenjian's Qi and Blood, however, had undergone nine qualitative transformations, reaching the point where it was like mercury.

His Qi and Blood flowed toward the sea of flames like a long river of liquid mercury.

In the blink of an eye, a small burning Buddhist hall was submerged beneath Mo Wenjian's Qi and Blood.

His Qi and Blood was like a tangible substance, cutting the small hall off from oxygen.

The fire in the small hall soon went out.

Seeing this, Mo Wenjian instinctively withdrew his Qi and Blood.

But as soon as the small hall came into contact with oxygen again, it immediately caught fire once more.

After a moment's thought, Mo Wenjian realized he had not cut it off for long enough.

The small hall had yet to cool, and its temperature remained above the ignition point.

"As the saying goes, water and fire show no mercy. Though you have reached the Gang Force realm and long since become impervious to water and fire, Buddha Son, the thick smoke from the burning Thousand Buddha Hall can still damage your vulnerable lungs. I beg you to leave the sea of flames. The damage to the Thousand Buddha Hall is already an enormous loss. If your health suffers as well, that would be adding frost to snow!"

The Thousand Buddha Hall housed lifeless statues of Buddha, while Mo Wenjian was a living Buddha.

Between the two, Mo Wenjian was clearly more important.

Master Xingshan would rather see the Thousand Buddha Hall destroyed in an instant than have Mo Wenjian suffer the slightest harm.

If the Thousand Buddha Hall burned down, it could be rebuilt.

If anything happened to Mo Wenjian, however, there would be no making up for it.

Mo Wenjian was deeply moved by his words.

What Mo Wenjian had done to Shaolin Temple was, in essence, deception.

Using his false identity as the Buddha Son, he had enjoyed the fruits of Shaolin Temple's thousand-year legacy.

Shaolin Temple, on the other hand, had shown Mo Wenjian every kindness and fulfilled every obligation.

Whatever Mo Wenjian asked for, Shaolin Temple granted.

The human heart was made of flesh. How could Mo Wenjian remain unmoved?

Mo Wenjian was single-mindedly focused on putting out the fire and saving the sacred Buddhist grounds of the Thousand Buddha Hall.

As he racked his brains, a thought suddenly struck him.

"Human strength has its limits, but the Buddha's power is boundless. I possess a sarira that can help Shaolin Temple through this calamity!"

Mo Wenjian took out the sarira and drew out the Qi and Blood hidden within it.

The sarira was, in essence, a vessel whose capacity continually expanded.

Even Mo Wenjian himself could not fathom how much Qi and Blood was stored inside it.

Mo Wenjian's own Qi and Blood could cover only one small Buddhist hall.

The Qi and Blood in the sarira gushed forth in quantities far more than a thousand or even ten thousand times greater.

Before long, boundless Qi and Blood enveloped the entire Thousand Buddha Hall.

The vast Thousand Buddha Hall seemed to have become an ocean of Qi and Blood.

Seeing this, the Shaolin monks dropped to their knees as one and prostrated themselves before Mo Wenjian.

Several eminent monks at the Gang Force realm gathered together in tacit understanding.

"Does anyone have any particular thoughts about the fire at the Thousand Buddha Hall?" Master Shanhui's face was filled with grief, his usual calm composure gone.

"Driven by greed, anger, and ignorance, we vainly sought to stop the Buddha Son from returning to the Great Thunderclap Temple in the Western Heaven and reclaiming his place as a Buddha. We sought to keep him at Shaolin Temple so that we could enjoy his gifts, and then the Thousand Buddha Hall caught fire. This must be the Buddhas reminding us not to interfere with the Buddha Son's cultivation out of selfishness!" At this, Master Xingshan lowered his head in shame. "I was the one who proposed this outrageously irreverent idea. I must be punished. I am willing to be confined in the Demon-Subduing Pagoda forever, never setting half a foot outside it until I die!"

Shaolin Temple was a sacred Buddhist place, and there was no such thing as the death penalty there.

If a monk committed a grave crime, he would be locked away in the Demon-Subduing Pagoda for life.

According to Buddhist teachings, Shaolin monks were compassionate at heart.

Only when led astray by their inner demons would they commit grave crimes.

The Demon-Subduing Pagoda was so named because it was a pagoda for subduing inner demons.

Though the name Demon-Subduing Pagoda was steeped in Buddhist meaning,

in essence, it was a prison for those condemned to death.

Master Xingshan's remorse could hardly have been more sincere.

"That is absolutely out of the question. You are the foremost eminent monk of the Xing generation. You must remain and use your life to protect Shaolin Temple's thousand-year foundation. How can you so readily withdraw from the world and live in seclusion?" Without a moment's thought, Master Xingzhi immediately stepped forward to object.

"Your sin lies in your heart, not in your actions. The way to atone lies in your heart, not in your person. Your punishment is to face the wall in the Bodhidharma Cave and reflect on your deeds for three years, reciting scriptures for six hours each day, not a quarter of an hour less!" Master Shanhui was the divine monk with the highest seniority, the longest experience, and the greatest strength in Shaolin Temple. He held an exalted position there, and his word was law, giving him absolute authority in this matter. Master Shanhui felt that the matter could not go unpunished, but he did not want the punishment to be too harsh, so he adopted a compromise.

"I respectfully obey your decree, grand martial uncle!" Shaolin Temple placed great importance on seniority. Master Xingshan knew he had made a grave mistake and naturally did not dare defy his elder, lest he compound one error with another.

"The fire at the Thousand Buddha Hall is a warning to Shaolin Temple, and Xingshan's three years facing the wall are a warning to all of you. Let the matter end here!" Master Shanhui paused, then continued, "The essence of Buddhist cultivation is cultivating the heart, and its pursuit is to see that the four elements are all empty. Whether the Buddha is far away in the Great Thunderclap Temple of the Western Heaven or right before us, our hearts must never waver in their devotion to him. Cultivating Buddhism is not about gaining, but about letting go!"

"Thank you for your teaching, grand martial uncle. For more than a decade, I received no gifts from the Buddha Son and thought only of attending to him. Without realizing it, I was in accord with the true Buddhist principle of letting go. Over the past few days, I received the Buddha Son's gifts, yet instead I gave rise to greed, thinking only of gaining more. I was already not far from Qi Deviation. Fortunately, the Buddhas warned me today, and you guided me, grand martial uncle, sparing me from straying down the wrong path. I will go to the Bodhidharma Cave at once to face the wall and reflect on my deeds, and strive to cleanse myself of my inner demons as soon as possible!" Having spoken, Master Xingshan immediately drifted away.

Master Xingshan had broken through to the Gang Force realm a few days earlier, but so little time had passed that he had yet to gain even ninety percent control over his Qi and Blood.

The Qi and Blood constantly leaking from him made Master Xingshan look like a towering mountain.

Now his heart had undergone a transformation, and his spirit had risen to another level.

Master Xingshan's bearing changed as completely as heaven and earth overturning.

At a glance, he looked like a scholarly monk.

His overbearing presence was gone, leaving only an approachable kindness.

Seeing this, the eminent monks immediately knew that Master Xingshan's mastery of Buddhist teachings had made a major breakthrough.