Xu Zhantang looked at the sky. The sky was dark, thunder sounded sorrowful, and blood rain fell.
The pony that had just found its master was also crying.
It didn't know what happened, only feeling its master's anger and hatred, only seeing its master fall into the blood like mud.
"Neigh neigh!"
In the dark sky, a blood horse crashed into Dustless like fire.
"Amitabha." Dustless's right hand gently brushed the pony to the side. The merciful him didn't let the pony get hurt at all.
Xu Zhantang wiped the blood rain off his face, sticking out his tongue and licking it. The stench was so strong that he, who was used to seeing blood and flesh, wanted to vomit.
But he didn't dare, because this place was Dustless.
The pony shook its head, waiting for the dizziness from riding on the clouds to subside, then crashed into Dustless with a sorrowful cry. Only when it used up all the stamina of a ferghana horse did it stagger to Xie Tian, kneel down, and use its tongue to lick its master's little face.
"Dustless, butcher!"
The four words came out of Wenshui's mouth with the most resentful tone. With each word, he spat out a mouthful of blood, which smashed onto the dustless ground, as if there were sparks flying.
"You call yourself a living Bodhisattva!"
"You have no mercy!"
"You are the most vicious executioner!"
"You killed someone!"
…
The wailing Wenshui crawled forward a foot with each curse. When he saw Xie Tian's calm little face and soulless blood eyes, he was in so much pain that he wanted to die.
Xu Zhantang wiped the blood rain off his face again and found it was a little warm. He looked up and saw that the blood rain had stopped. What he wiped off was his own tears.
Dustless quietly approached, bowed, and helped Wenshui up.
Clang!
Wenshui, who had lost his cultivation, could only crazily scratch and spit at Dustless like a woman. In exchange, Dustless's calm and compassionate words were exchanged.
"Amitabha, Benefactor Wenshui is seriously ill. This old monk will definitely save your life. Buddha is merciful."
Clang!
Another mouthful of blood-colored saliva landed on Dustless's right eye. The scarlet light lit up this merciful eye, like the eye of a devil.
"Hahahaha, what merciful, what salvation, you are the most vicious monk in the world!"
"You are ten thousand times more vicious than Marshal Xie!"
"Buddha is blind!"
"The heavens are blind!"
"Everyone is blind!"
Wen Shui continued to curse, but his eyes had already lost focus. Dustless let out a bitter sigh and waved his hand to make Wen Shui fall asleep. Then, he carried Wen Shui and walked towards the main hall.
The clouds parted and the sun rose.
The fiery red light shone on Dustless, but it could not penetrate his black kasaya.
Xu Zhantang raised his head and looked at the golden plaque above the main hall. The words "Mercy Hall" were so glaring that he couldn't even open his eyes.
Is this the Buddha's light that illuminates the world …
Puzzled, he looked up again, but he didn't see the shining Buddha. Instead, he seemed to see two people. When he blinked and looked again, they were gone.
"Almsgiver Xu, what are you looking at?" Great Master Wu Chen walked out of the main hall and asked.
Xu Zhantang pointed to the sky in puzzlement. Great Master Wu Chen looked up and only saw the scene of hundreds of frightened birds returning. He said mercifully, "I have sinned. The birds are afraid of killing cultivators. After this old monk recites the sutra a hundred times, the murderous aura on the mountain will be dispelled. If almsgiver Xu has nothing else to do, you can enter the temple to listen."
Xu Zhantang shook his head and bowed to Great Master Wu Chen. Glancing at Mercy Hall, he turned around and staggered down the mountain.
At this moment, he didn't care how lucky it was to be invited by Great Master Wu Chen to listen to sutra. He only wanted to escape from this spotless place. This place was so clean that it made him suspicious, so clean that it made him afraid.
Great Master Wu Chen sent him off with the name of Buddha. After closing the temple door, he carried Xie Tian into the main hall. Then, he came out with a small bucket and a rag, kneeling on the ground to wipe the blood.
There wasn't much blood. As Dustless wiped, it gradually disappeared. However, there were four bloodstains on the ground that couldn't be wiped off no matter how he wiped.
He got up and looked around. The bloodstains were a little shocking. Dustless was stunned for a long time. Then, he bowed and said the name of Buddha. Carrying the small bucket, he turned around and left.
"Dustless, Butcher!"
These four words were carved at the entrance of Dustless Temple using fresh blood as ink.
Xu Zhantang didn't see wrong. There was no Buddha in the sky above Dustless Mountain, but there really were people.
One had the air of a sage, the other was dressed in rags.
The one with the air of a sage was called Xian Feng. The one in rags was called Gui Feng.
Gui Feng had a nickname that was familiar to the ear, Mad Old Man.
Dustless Mountain wasn't high, but the two of them were. When mortals looked at them, they would feel a sense of fear as if they were three feet and three inches above the sky. Unfortunately, mortals couldn't see them. Their eyes, however, could ignore a distance of three hundred zhang and see through Mercy Hall.
"Gui Feng, this little monk is a little interesting. Looking at his way of doing things, he's a little like those madmen of Thunder State." Xian Feng held a jade ruler. There were three red dots on the ruler. One of them was very high, almost reaching the top of the ruler. The second red dot was in the middle of the ruler, and the third red dot was at the bottom of the ruler.
Mad Old Man didn't reply. He frowned at the jade ruler and said impatiently: "Laozi brought you from so far away just to see a monk?"
Xian Feng glanced at Mad Old Man speechlessly: "Why do you have such a bad temper. We haven't seen each other for a hundred years and you treat your comrade like this? Do you believe that I won't turn around and leave? "
"Alright, alright, alright. It's laozi's fault!" Gui Feng panicked. He pointed at the jade ruler and hurriedly asked: "Why does your Heaven Measuring Ruler have three dots?"
Xian Feng looked at Gui Feng like he was looking at an idiot. He shook his head and sighed: "It's been a hundred years and you haven't improved at all. Since you know it's a Heaven Measuring Ruler, why can't it have three dots?"
"Laozi told you to come and see Xie Tian, you …"
"Please, the Heaven Measuring Ruler is a Soul Treasure. It's full of spirituality. Even if I don't use it, it can automatically detect this place." Xian Feng helplessly explained.
Mad Old Man frowned: "A few years ago, there was a little kid who got lucky and obtained a Transcendent Dao Fruit. Including Xie Tian, there are only two Dao Fruits. There can't be a third!"
"Hehe, it's simple. While you were gone, someone else obtained a Dao Fruit." Xian Feng laughed and threw the Heaven Measuring Ruler into the air. A milky white light shot down from the bottom of the ruler. It pierced through the Mercy Hall and landed on Xie Tian's head.
Mad Old Man impatiently asked: "How long do I have to wait?"
"At least a day." Xian Feng sat cross-legged on the cloud and smiled: "Don't worry. I've waited for three thousand years. Why would I care about one more day?"
"Sigh, I just want to know if that supreme Dao Fruit was obtained by Xie Tian." Mad Old Man sorrowfully sighed.
Xian Feng was startled and asked in surprise: "What's wrong? Have you become compassionate?"
"Not really." Mad Old Man lay on the cloud and mumbled: "In the past three thousand years, including Xie Tian, a total of thirteen Ancient Remnant Beasts have passed through my hands. Among them, nine were not compatible with the Lord's inheritance. Three did not obtain the supreme Dao Fruit. I killed them all."
Xian Feng smiled. Just as he was about to speak, Mad Old Man said: "However, Xie Tian is the weirdest of the thirteen. I don't know if I can bear to kill him."
Xian Feng was stunned: "Isn't this called compassionate?"
"I said I won't! I won't!"
"Fine, you're bragging." Seeing Mad Old Man's anger, Xian Feng rolled his eyes and stopped mocking him. But after a while, he couldn't help but say: "Passing the Dao Fruit test still depends on this kid's talent. If his talent doesn't pass the test, hehe, Gui Feng, you're on your own."
Mad Old Man nodded silently: "I know. I won't mess up the Lord's great plan."
Although Dustless Temple was located at the peak of the mountain, it was still very far away from the sky above three thousand feet.
So what happened in Dustless Temple just now only attracted Xian Feng's interest in Dustless Temple's identity. As for what happened to Xie Tian, it was completely ignored by the two. It was as if to them, this matter was not even worth a fart.
The sound of the Drum of Dusk did not startle the birds in the forest. They were already used to this sound. They even knew that after the Drum of Dusk, the old monk in Dustless Temple would begin his evening lessons. They could not understand the contents of the chanting, but they could hear the compassionate words that made them feel at ease.
But Xie Tian woke up with a start.
What he heard was not the compassionate words, but the resentment that drilled into his brain.
The statue of Buddha in the Hall of Mercy was golden. It was cast by Zhao Ye at a cost of 100,000 taels of gold. Dustless Temple was not large, but it enshrined the most valuable statue of Buddha in the entire Song Kingdom and even the entire Wanzhou.
In Xie Tian's eyes, the statue of Buddha was redder than blood.
The Buddha he knew for the first time was this kind of red. It was redder than blood from people, redder than killing, redder than his own bloody eyes interwoven with resentment and anger.
So he stretched out his trembling right hand, and the direction he stretched out was where the statue of Buddha was.
"Amitabha."
After Dustless Temple finished his evening lessons, his compassionate eyes looked at the small hand, and he asked softly: "Benefactor Xie Tian, what do you want to do?"
"I want to touch it."
"I have sinned. Although the statue of Buddha is not the true body of Buddha, it is not something that can be touched by mortals." Dustless Temple gently flicked his right hand, and with a crack, Xie Tian's right arm was broken at the shoulder.
As if it was not his own arm that was broken, Xie Tian's expression did not change at all. He still looked at the statue of Buddha and asked: "Why is it so red?"
"Buddha is colorless and formless. What is red is the benefactor's heart."
"What have you done with the Buddha you worship?"
"Excellent. For the sake of delivering all living beings from suffering, the Buddha has passed down 1096 scriptures. The principles of Buddhism and Zen are all within these 1096 scriptures." Dustless closed the scripture in front of him and replied indifferently.
Xie Tian slowly turned his head to look at Dustless and said: "I want to hear it."
"Okay." Dustless Temple glanced at the title page of the sutra, and his Zen voice sounded softly: "This sutra is the first volume of the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Wonderful Solemnity of Messiah. For a time, Buddha became enlightened in the Alanruofa Bodhi Field of Magathi. The ground is firm, and it is made of Vajra. The Wonderful Wheel of Treasures, the Tranquil Mani, is a strict decoration … "
Every time Dustless Temple finished reading a page, the sutra automatically flipped. He did not read it according to the original. This was because when he was 12 years old, he read this sutra for six months and comprehended it for two years. Even now, at the age of 113, he could still recite it fluently.
Tens of thousands of words flowed out of Dustless's mouth, turning into a voice filled with wisdom. All of Dustless Mountain was immersed in the boundless Buddhist dharma. Even Celestial Wind, who was a thousand meters up in the sky, nodded slightly.
"I dare say that this little monk is from the Thunder Prefecture's Tempest Temple." Xian Feng nudged the snoring Mad Old Man.
The Mad Old Man frowned and asked: "Why?"
"Because his Zen sounds can just barely reach my ears." Xian Feng sighed in boredom. "The Wanzhou is indeed the most barren land in the Nine Prefectures. The only one that caught my eye was a little monk from the Thunder Prefecture."
How could the Mad Old Man not understand the meaning behind Xian Feng's words? Xian Feng was clearly demoting the Wanzhou, but he was implying that the 13th Remnant Species he found was also a piece of trash. The Mad Old Man laughed coldly and was about to scold him when a voice came from the Mercy Hall.
"There's no need to read anymore." Xie Tian opened his blood-red eyes and said softly.
"Benefactor Xie Tian, you don't want to listen anymore?" Dustless Temple closed the sutra. His heart was slightly disturbed because he had never experienced a case where the sutra was abruptly stopped halfway through.
"I understand. Why do you still want to listen?"
Dustless Temple apologized. "Benefactor Xie Tian, in front of Buddha, do not …"
"Everything in the world has life. Cultivators must stimulate their own life and form a connection with flowers, trees, wind, and other living things. Only when they are accomplished can they stop at being virtuous and full of life." Xie Tian looked at Dustless Temple and asked. "Is that right?"
Dustless Temple did not speak. He even forgot to say the name of Buddha.
Xian Feng looked at the Mad Old Man and asked suspiciously, "You've explained Zen to him?"
"Bullsh * t!" The Mad Old Man scolded. "I don't even know how to write the word 'Buddha'!"
Xian Feng was silent.
"Hey, why are you pretending to be profound?" The Mad Old Man saw this and poked Xian Feng. "Even if that kid is right, you are the Great Elder in White of the Holy Zhi Palace. Is there a need to be so shocked?"
Xian Feng shook his head and pointed at Xie Tian, who had lost all his cultivation and was six days away from death. He wanted to laugh but could not. "What he said was very simple. Those who read the first volume of the Yan Hua Sutra for the first time will have a 20% chance of understanding it."
The Mad Old Man rolled his eyes and was about to scold him for making a fuss out of nothing. Then, Xian Feng's next words shocked him so much that he sat up.
"Understanding is nothing, but the life force in his body has increased a little. Even if the medicinal power of the Yuanyang Elixir is exhausted, he can still live for another two hours." After Xian Feng finished, he looked at the Mad Old Man and asked, "Are you sure this egg was hatched 12 years ago?"
The Mad Old Man nodded woodenly.
"From the looks of it, it can be considered a good egg."
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