Chapter 41 - Monk
On the pitch-black dirt road, Li Huowang carried a torch and led the others onward. The night was still dark, yet none of them felt sleepy after their previous experience; they were too shaken to even think about going to bed. Now, their donkey cart was loaded with some sliced up horse meat as well. Aside from a few silver pieces they looted from the corpses of the bandits, this too was also a part of Li Huowang’s spoils of war.
“We’ve traveled enough for today; let’s rest here till dawn. It’s unsafe to continue traveling during the night,” Li Huowang ordered before quickly stacking the torches together to form a new bonfire. “Try to get some rest even if you can’t fall asleep. After all, we need to continue traveling tomorrow. Conserve your energy. I’ll take the first watch duty for now.”
Soon, the sound of donkey hooves and footsteps faded, and the dirt road once again became quiet. Sitting by the campfire, Li Huowang turned to look at the road they had just come from; it was pitch-black.
From the looks of it, that old beggar of a Monk will only come over after burying the dead.
As Li Huowang recalled what had just happened, he could not help but feel a sense of awe at the chaos that presided over this place. All sorts of dangers lurked around, yet there was no unity between the members of the same race; rather, mutually killing each other was quite common.
He used his sword to stab the nearly-extinguished campfire before throwing in some firewood from beside him.
As some time passed, some of those people scattered in the forest gradually converged toward Li Huowang’s bonfire. Soon, there were quite a few smaller bonfires beside theirs.
Members of the Lu family were not among the figures of the returnees, but Li Huowang was not worried in the least; when the bandits had appeared, they had been the quickest ones to flee the scene. Lu Zhuangyuan could definitely be considered experienced. Even though he was so stingy, he still chose to have horses pull his carts. He must have considered the possibility of encountering such a situation.
Time trickled by, and the sky gradually brightened. When the others woke up, they began to grill the horse meat for breakfast before getting ready for their journey. Horse meat was still meat, even if it was not the most delicious, and was thus quite helpful in replenishing their strength.
As they were eating, a trembling figure walked over from behind them. Li Huowang let his guard down ever so slightly upon seeing the appearance of the person. It was the old Monk from before, and it seemed like he had spent the entire night burying people. The morning dew had soaked his tattered monk robes, causing him to shiver from the cold. He slowly approached a nearby bonfire and crouched down, huddling himself into a ball.
The Monk smiled innocently when he noticed Li Huowang looking at him.
Li Huowang’s sense of hostility toward the Monk lessened when he thought about the Monk’s self-sacrificial actions to rescue others last night. From the looks of it, this old Monk was one of those kind-hearted people that had a hard time surviving in this dangerous world. Even so, be it Li Huowang or anyone else, everyone enjoyed dealing with such kind-hearted people.
The Monk hurriedly reached out his hand to retrieve the bun that Li Huowang passed to him. As he gnawed on it, he said, “May Buddha bless you.”
Li Huowang was curious, “Which Buddha are you referring to?”
“Huh? Isn’t Buddha just Buddha? Are there different Buddhas?” The old Monk asked, slightly perplexed.
“Ah, just eat quickly. It’s rare to find someone like you out in this world. I hope that you’re not lying to me,” said Li Huowang.
“How can I lie to others? I’m a Monk, and Monks do not cheat others.” The old Monk asserted firmly.
“You only know how to chant Amitabha, and don’t even know which Buddha you believe in. Just what kind of Monk are you?”
“Scholar Sun said that Monks are bald, so I shaved my head. Tailor Wang said that Monks are not allowed to get married, so I didn’t! Liu Pukuai said that Monks are not allowed to eat meat, so I don’t eat meat! I saw other Monks chanting Amitabha, so I just followed their example. I’ve done it all, so how come I’m not a Monk?”
Li Huowang chuckled upon hearing all that; from the looks of it, the old Monk was very earnest in his explanations. This Monk was even worse at pretending to be a Monk than he was at pretending to be a Taoist. “But doing all this does not mean that you are a Monk.”
The old beggar was stumped, then raised his half-eaten bun and looked solemnly at Li Huowang. “Then tell me, what should a Monk be like?”
Li Huowang opened his mouth to reply, but could not give an answer; this Monk’s words seemed to hold a hint of truth amidst his ignorance.
For some reason, Li Huowang saw a glimpse of Dan Yangzi in the beggar—both were persistent in their beliefs despite their ignorance.
“I guess you should be illiterate?”
“How did you know? Are all Taoists good at figuring things out?”
“Keke. Why are you so bent on becoming a Monk?”
“Back then, if not for a Monk that saved me, I would have long since departed from this world. Since that day, I swore that I would become a Monk! I will become a good Monk!”
In the midst of their conversation, Li Huowang saw the Lu family members rushing back toward them from a distance. He stood up and patted his bottom before walking in their direction.
There were no more mishaps during the rest of their journey. The old Monk quietly followed along, and even gnawed on wild plants whenever he was hungry. Li Huowang would occasionally spare him a bun or two.
After over ten days like that, a city even more magnificent than Jianye town appeared before them—they had arrived at Western Capital City.
The city walls made of green-colored bricks stood tall and majestic. They all felt a sense of awe when looking up from the city gate entrance.
We’ve finally arrived.
Li Huowang heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the city gates. Fear and uncertainty had plagued them throughout their journey, but at least the scene from his nightmares had not appeared.
“Young Taoist, the inns in Western Capital City are very expensive. I’ll bring you to one that I know; it’s definitely cheaper,” Lu Zhuangyuan said. Just as he was about to walk toward the tall city gates, he was pulled back by Li Huowang.
“Hold on, which Monastery did you mention before?” Li Huowang asked eagerly. This was his most important objective in coming to this place.
Under Lu Zhuangyuan’s guidance, Li Huowang headed to the most prosperous Monastery in Western Capital City—the Righteous Monastery.
Even before he could see the Monastery, Li Huowang could already smell the unique smell of incense burned at Buddhist sites. The wide alleyways also became more and more crowded with people from all ages and backgrounds.
Upon seeing the incense sticks held by all the people, Li Huowang immediately understood that these people were all here to worship Buddha.
“Has this Monastery’s incense always been so popular?” asked Li Huowang.
A nearby worshiper heard his question toward Lu Zhuangyuan, and interjected, “Of course! Righteous Monastery’s Bodhisattva is very effective! My daughter-in-law conceived after worshiping here just once.”
“And the masters here are very kind. They often distribute porridge among the poor,” interjected another worshiper.
“That’s right. It’s truly a blessing to have such a good Monastery in the Western Capital City,” interjected yet another worshiper.
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