leonardwarren Chapter 22: Beat the child, and the elders come? Manjushri and Samantabhadra team up to cause troubl
Chapter 22: Beat the child, and the elders come? Manjushri and Samantabhadra team up to cause troubl
"I've checked." Grand Master Xuandu nodded.
"So what you really want to ask isn't whether I'm a mortal or not," Lu Chen put down his bowl. "What you really want to ask is why a mortal could recognize you at a glance."
"right."
"Let me tell you," Lu Chen smiled, "I know more people than you can imagine."
"I know the Buddha, I know the Primordial Celestial Venerable, I know your master, and I know your uncle, the Tongtian Sect Master."
"I also know those old guys who were deified on the Investiture of the Gods list."
"I got to know you because—" Lu Chen paused, "you appear in the historical records of the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Void Palace more often than many people think. This is what you look like."
Grand Master Xuandu frowned.
"Historical materials? What historical materials?"
Lu Chen smiled but did not answer.
He changed the subject.
"Great Master, let's speak frankly."
Grand Master Xuandu remained silent.
"You came here to see what's going on, right?" Lu Chen looked straight at him.
"The teacher asked you to investigate three things."
"How much do I know? What is my purpose? Where did I learn these things?"
"Right?"
Grand Master Xuandu's expression changed for the third time.
He was silent for a long time.
Finally, he nodded.
"Yes."
Faced with Lu Chen's blatant information asymmetry, pretense and concealment are meaningless. The Grand Master Xuandu, having cultivated for thousands of years, has no shortage of pragmatism.
"My order is to observe," he frankly admitted. "I have no intention of fighting with you."
"Well, that's why I didn't plan to fight you," Lu Chen laughed. "You keep observing, I'll dry my fish."
Grand Master Xuandu looked Lu Chen over again.
His divine sense swept over Lu Chen's entire body very lightly but very subtly.
He has no cultivation level.
There was no trace of magical artifact.
There were no signs of cultivation.
His physical structure is that of an ordinary adult male, his bone age is normal, and there is nothing abnormal about his soul.
He was just an ordinary person.
"Impossible." He frowned. "You can't just be a mortal."
"But that's me." Lu Chen shrugged. "Both your Buddhist and Taoist sects have been investigating for half a year. All the conclusions point to the same answer."
"I am just a mortal."
"I have no connections."
"Buddhism didn't lie. Taoism didn't lie either. That's the truth."
"How did you do that?" Grand Master Xuandu stared at him. "You were evenly matched with the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and evenly matched with Manjushri Bodhisattva. How could a mortal do that?"
"Good question." Lu Chen smiled.
He poured the water from the earthenware pot into a pot, placed it on the campfire, and prepared to boil the water.
"But I can't tell you."
Grand Master Xuandu looked at him.
He squinted.
He observed Lu Chen's every subtle expression.
There was no trace of lying in Lu Chen's words.
This mortal truly knows "why," but he chooses not to say it.
It's not a matter of ability, it's a matter of choice.
This realization made Master Xuandu even more uneasy.
He originally thought that Lu Chen was either the incarnation of some big shot (which he could just figure out), or some kind of being he couldn't understand (which he just couldn't comprehend).
But Lu Chen gave a third answer—
"I know who I am, but I'm not telling you."
This is a completely different stance.
An insider. Someone who knows the rules of the game but doesn't intend to tell anyone.
Grand Master Xuandu remained silent for a long time.
He decided to withdraw temporarily.
He took out a white jade talisman from his pocket; it was his means of communication. He didn't use it, but simply held it in his hand.
"Fellow Daoist," he said, looking at Lu Chen, "this humble Daoist takes his leave."
"Take care." Lu Chen waved.
Grand Master Xuandu turned and walked towards the valley entrance.
He took a few steps and then stopped.
He turned around.
"I have one last question."
"Please ask."
"You know so many secrets," Grand Master Xuandu's voice was calm, but each word was clear, "What is your purpose?"
The valley was very quiet.
Only in the pot over the campfire, water began to bubble and gurgle.
Lu Chen slowly raised his head.
He looked at the Grand Master Xuandu.
The smile on his face faded a little.
But only a little.
Then he laughed.
He laughed softly and relaxedly, as if he had heard a very funny question.
"Purpose?"
"I have no ulterior motive."
All I want is to live a good life.
Grand Master Xuandu stared at him for a long time.
He didn't speak.
Then he turned around and left.
Lu Chen was the only one left in the valley.
He stared at the pot on the campfire for a while.
The water has boiled.
He lifted the pot off the ground, poured the contents into an earthenware pot, and prepared to make tea.
He had no tea leaves, only a few wild tea leaves picked from the mountains.
He threw the wild tea leaves into the earthenware pot and waited for them to slowly unfurl in the hot water.
Then he took the earthenware pot and sat down on the rock.
He looked in the direction where the Grand Master Xuandu had disappeared outside the valley.
A long time passed.
long time.
He chuckled softly.
"Live well."
He took a sip of wild tea.
It's bitter.
"This wish."
"It's really not easy to do."
Lingshan.
Manjushri sat cross-legged on the futon for three days and three nights without moving.
Sitting opposite him was Puxian.
Puxian was his senior brother. He was also a fellow disciple who had defected from the Chan Sect with him back then. Moreover, he was one of the people he trusted most in Buddhism.
The two of them sat facing each other in silence for three days.
On the evening of the third day, Puxian slowly began to speak.
"Junior brother."
"Um."
"You said he knows everything about you."
"Yes."
"They even know about our apostasy?"
"Know."
"Even the fact that you broke the glass cup... no, that was Sha Wujing." Puxian paused, then changed the example, "Even the fact that you were dancing around in your room while practicing the Great Vajra Mudra, and Maitreya caught you doing so?"
Manjushri blushed.
"Know."
Samantabhadra remained silent.
"Senior brother," Manjushri raised his head, "I've seen him with my own eyes. I've fought him hand-to-hand."
"I know."
"You should go see it for yourself."
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Puxian stood up.
Manjushri also stood up.
"Senior brother, this time, I'm not going alone."
"My fellow disciples and I will go together."
Outside the valley.
Two beams of golden light descended from the sky and landed on the site of the operation.
One of them was Manjushri's white light.
One is the golden light of Samantabhadra.
The two Bodhisattvas stood side by side.
This is a rare spectacle in Buddhism in nearly a thousand years.
Sun Wukong sat on a tree, eating a fruit.
When he saw the two Bodhisattvas arrive together, he stopped eating the fruit in his mouth.
His lips twitched.
He looked at Manjushri, then at Samantabhadra, and opened his mouth.
In the end, he didn't say anything.
He couldn't even be bothered to explain.
Anyway, no one would believe me if I told them.
Anyway, we can't win even if we fight.
Anyway, he's already seen this play once, so he might as well watch it again.
"Bodhisattvas, please."
He took a bite of the fruit and jumped down from the tree.
He hoisted the golden cudgel onto his shoulder.
He stepped aside, crossed his arms, and adopted a spectator's stance.
Pigsy leaned closer and whispered, "Brother Monkey, will it work this time?"
Sun Wukong glanced at him.
"fool."
"what?"
"Shut up, watch the show with Old Sun."
Pigsy opened his mouth and finally understood something.
He scratched his pig ear, silently retreated behind Sun Wukong, and craned his neck to watch the show.
Tang Sanzang sighed from behind.
Sha Wujing leaned against a tree and wiped his Zen staff.
The Five Directions Protectors squatted in a row.
The entire venue was transformed into temporary seating for spectators.
Manjushri and Samantabhadra exchanged a glance, then simultaneously took to the air and flew towards the valley.
Sun Wukong waited until they had flown a distance before slowly catching up.