180 A Midsummers Rain (1/2)
Chapter 180: A Midsummer's Rain
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
”If I scare you to death, where can I find my successor?”
”The problem is that it doesn't sound real to me.”
”Why not?”
”Chang'an City, God-stunning Array, to pass them on to me...? Why? For what?”
”The number of Divine Talisman Masters who are eligible to preside over the God-stunning Array is small, yet they who can be absolutely trusted by the Empire are even much less. As for the three cloistered Divine Talisman Masters in the Academy, only little Huang He is a citizen of the Tang Empire, and uncle Gongsun has something wrong with his health. Yet, you are a student of the Headmaster of the Academy, and a disciple of mine, so why can't the imperial court trust you? Why can't I pass them on to you?”
”Who can agree?”
”I agree.”
”Master, is it enough only with your consent?”
”His Majesty has agreed, and he told me that he promised to show you something after you formally stepped into Talisman Taoism.”
”He did agree... but... anything relevant?”
”You'll understand when you see it someday.”
...
...
It would be, of course, a very happy and glorious thing to become a high-ranking Divine Talisman Master. However, if the security of the entire Chang'an and even the entire Tang Empire was handed over to the becoming a Divine Talisman Master, then this kind of happiness and glory would be multiplied immensely and would be finally turned into big responsibilities like mountains and strong pressure like the sky.
Thinking of standing up on the city tower of Chang'an in a few decades to overlook the whole world, Ning Que could not easily feel relaxed any longer. Instead, he would carefully observe the lives of millions of Tangs and always continue preparing to make the decisions that ordinary people could hardly make for the longevity of the imperial court, which had been prosperous for over thousands of years. At this moment, Ning Que felt that it was a little hard to breathe in his depressed mood.
Based on objective evaluation, any lad that had just come into contact with the cultivation world for less than a year and who was still in the No Doubts State would be nearly scared to death if he suddenly knew that bigwigs of the Empire had made such an important arrangement for his future.
Ning Que was no exception, but after all, he had experienced too many shocks and impacts in his life. He was strong and wild enough. Especially after entering the Second Floor of the Academy, his mind had become more stable, and even calm, easy, and indolent.
After getting back to Lin 47th Street, his mood soon returned to normal.
Someone's old cat lying on the stone in the ally was squinting and lazily basking in the sun.
...
...
In fact, Ning Que was not lazy. In those days, in order to avoid those enthusiastic Chang'an citizens and stewards of different mansions, he still got up in the dark and went out early in the morning to practice swords, knives, and needles and to enjoy the wind, melodies, and games of chess in the back of the mountain of the Academy. After leaving the Academy, he would continue to go sightseeing around Chang'an City and to visit Taoist temples all around, but now he was alone on the road without his master's company.
Chang'an City finally arrived at the most difficult period of the year—a hot and stifling summer. Ning Que also finished traveling to more than 10 temples, and he eventually arrived at Wanyan Tower in Southern City. Unfortunately, as it was not the right time of spring, geese had already made their trip north to Xunyang Lake of the Gushan Commandery to spend the hot summer. Thus, he had no chance of seeing the shocking scene of tens of thousands of geese flying together around the ancient tower.
Luckily, places like Taoist temples always preferred to choose the world's most beautiful scenery as their background, so the Taoist monks were forced to rehabilitate some good scenery so they would not be miserably cursed at by mortals. Hence, although there were now no geese to enjoy at Wanyan Tower, at least a pagoda with ancient lichenous bricks and finely carved stone statues remained.
Ning Que looked up at the pagoda for a while and did not perceive any enlightenment in Talisman Taoism, nor any beauty. Therefore, he shrugged and walked into the hall, but he was immediately absorbed in the statues that were smooth in lines, but exceptionally solemn in expressions.
The world was enveloped by the Divine Light of Haotian, while the Buddhism Sect silently stayed at a corner of Yuelun Kingdom. Although some temples had been built at the edges of some cities, after all, they might not qualify as mainstream. Most of the Buddhist monks doing penance in the Wilderness had little effect on secular people. Like most people, Ning Que did not understand much about Buddhist doctrines. He just roughly knew that the so-called venerable ones in the Buddhism Sect were probably equivalent to Sages that ordinary people always spoke of. These were the legends or myths of ancient times.
Stone statues of the venerable ones were placed successively in the quiet Buddhist Hall. They were emitting a flash of quiet and yellowish sheen as light penetrated through from windows that were covered with yellow papers. They were varied in shapes—laughing, or speechless, or seeming bitter on their faces. Their hands out of their cloister robes were also distinctive—putting their palms together, or lightly gripping together, or pressing their long figures together in strange ways.
Ning Que guessed that these must be Emblematic Gestures of the Buddhism Sect, and he subconsciously imitated in accordance with these statues. He stretched his hands out of his sleeves to slowly put his palms together, and then spread his fingers to be crossed, or bent his fingers to drop his wrist like a lotus. He gradually felt something in his heart, but could not tell what it was.
Out of the temple appeared the bright and heated sunshine again. He blinked his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. When he was about to leave, a middle-aged monk came out of Wanyan Tower and smiled at him.
...
...
Such a shabby roof it was.
The middle-aged monk placed a cup of tea in front of Ning Que and calmly said, ”You can call me Huang Yang.”
Ning Que received the cup and expressed his thanks to him, thinking that the name was somewhat familiar. It seemed that the name had been mentioned by Master Yen Se.
”You might be confused as to why I invited you to ascend upstairs and have a talk together.”
The middle-aged monk looked at him and smilingly said, ”I'm entrusted by someone to speak a few words to you.”
Ning Que, holding the warm teacup, felt puzzled and thought by whom the monk was invited and what he wanted to say? At this moment, he finally remembered the identity of Huang Yang monk. Suddenly he was shocked, recalling those stories of hearsay that in the past he had heard. He then quickly got up and said, ”Honored to... see you here, Master.”
Huang Yang monk chuckled and said, ”Many people feel troubled about what to call me. In the eyes of the common people, I'm the so-called younger brother of the emperor, and I'm often called lord. But I'm merely a monk rather than a lord.”
Ning Que laughed, not knowing how to reply to him.
Huang Yang monk pointed to the hill-like Buddhist scriptures on the bookcase behind him and said, ”I brought back these scriptures from the Wilderness and wanted to translate them into plain characters so that their true meaning can be learned by the common people. Yet many volumes haven't been finished yet, due to my little talent and learning. So please don't mind if I directly start to tell you.”
The middle-aged monk sitting on the opposite side was the younger brother of the emperor of the Tang dynasty, the most respected Buddhist sublime being in the Empire. Although Ning Que had not yet been able to guess by whom the monk was invited, a sublime being like the monk would rather take time off and talk to him here than interpret the Buddhist scriptures. What the monk was going to say might be extremely important to him. Thus, Ning Que would not have the slightest grievances about that.
”I know little about Fu characters, so I can only start from the cultivation process that I have experienced. The Buddhism Sect stresses enlightenment with a clear heart. The one with a Buddhist heart can become a Buddha. The Qi of Heaven and Earth around can be considered as the gift endowed by Haotian, or as some glories that have existed since ancient times. Whether Haotian has the same will as that of humans is still controversial among the Taoist Sects, Buddhism Sects, and Academy predecessors. So we won't talk about that today.”
Huang Yang monk was actually straightforward, without any greetings or changing or concluding in his remarks . He directly uttered a great proposition, but abruptly stopped to quickly enter the theme after a few explanations.
”Cultivation in the Buddhism Sect is ascetic. The so-called ascesis does not that mean cultivators need to bear hardships, but spend lots of years walking between heaven and earth and intimately contacting with cliffs and streams. Some day in the future, a water flower may blossom in the still stream of a cliff. After that, cultivators might be able to perceive the Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth.
”Cultivation pays attention to understanding the laws of Qi of Heaven and Earth, to perceiving how the Primordial Qi flows and how it becomes static. Disciples of the Buddhism Sect also need to study, but what's different is that our study depends more on perennial accumulation. That we can suddenly figure out these things is called enlightenment.”
The truly good students, even in front of Einstein, would not be passively waiting to be fed by geese as wiggling fish did in Back Mountain of the Academy. Instead, they would bravely and timely raise questions. Ning Que was definitely a good student, so he frowned and asked after Huang Yang monk finished those words, ”To realize all the attributes of objects by being extremely familiar with their objective existence?”
”You summed it up pretty well, no wonder that you can enter the Second Floor of the Academy.”
Huang Yang monk was slightly stunned and said, ”It generally makes sense. However, in terms of the Buddhism Sect, the Qi of Heaven and Earth has existed before humans, and will be always existing after our death. This is an objective existence of transcending secular experience or even living experience. Hence, perception matters more than mastery for us, who live amidst it. Most importantly, we should not think to control it.
”So the Buddhism Sect, unlike those general genres of cultivation, divides states with the degree of understanding and control of the laws of Heaven and Earth. There's nothing at all in the No Doubts State and Seethrough. To have a decent study about the endless heaven and earth with a limited life, how can they have no doubts? As it is the mystery of heaven and earth, how can they see through?”
Ning Que seriously considered his words, feeling that these views of the Buddhism Sect were somewhat too rigid, or at least not so positive.
”The Buddhism Sect only tells about enlightenment. If you get enlightened, then you actually do. If you don't, then you really do not.”
Huang Yang monk looked at him and calmly said, ”I have done penance with my master in all parts of the world since my childhood. After the master died of old age and poor health, I went to Yuelun Kingdom since I heard that there's a holy land of the Buddhism Sect in the far west of the Wilderness. And then I started to march toward the Wilderness with caravans of the kingdom. During the following seven years, I followed 17 different caravans to get into the Wilderness, where some caravans stayed without coming back, but more caravans returned to the kingdom with big rewards. Yet, I have never found the legendary holy land of the Buddhism Sect.
”One of the caravans had approached the Wilderness four times, and so had I with this caravan. Hence, I was familiar with those carters and guards. A sandstorm struck one day, and then the caravan was trapped somewhere in a mound of Qiucheng. At nightfall, a Horse Gang also entered the mound to avoid the sandstorms. Thus, a killing occurred for no reason.”
Hearing the words ”Horse Gang”, Ning Que subconsciously raised his eyebrows, and a flash of bright light passed through his eyes. At the same time, his body suddenly stiffened out of instinct, with killing intent covering his body. He then asked in a low voice, ”Master, what happened then? ”
He knew that it was unnecessary to ask this question for he knew better than anyone else the cruelty of the Horse Gang in the Wilderness. But now, the master was bravely sitting here, so he guessed that something probably did happen to him, or the master had very likely attained enlightenment that day.
Sure enough, Huang Yang monk answered, ”The Horse Gang was somewhat dreadful about disciples of the Buddhism Sect. Not until after they killed everyone did they besiege me. It was at that moment when I was finally enlightened, after 20 years of penance with my master and seven years of going in and out of the Wilderness. ”
Hearing the Master's story, Ning Que seemed to personally be on the cruel scene in the Wilderness that night. He was feeling slightly uneasy in his mind, and he then consciously asked, looking at the other side of the desk, ”Master, how was the Horse Gang afterward?”
Huang Yang monk smiled and did not give a reply. Instead, he just slowly poured some tea into his cup.
Ning Que laughed, knowing that he had asked a question of no significance. Although the Buddhism Sect was particular about mercy and helping others, Ning Que clearly knew that the Buddhism Sect would get furious in front of villains because before he had seen the introduction of those venerable ones who had glaring eyes. That Horse Gang menmbers had naturally died.
Huang Yang monk continued, ”As for how I got enlightenment at that time, I can't understand, even now. I just remember that my body was immersed in the outflowing blood of familiar peers, feeling that their blood was very hot, which made my skin burn and seemingly blaze up.”
Hearing these words, Ning Que gently rubbed his fingers under the table, feeling that the blood stains left from childhood were still as viscous as before. Though they were much lighter in color now, they still made him feel a little uncomfortable.