"After leaving the Scriptures with , Shixing Monk departed with Suo Luo. He knew that no one who practices Zen could resist looking at notes summarized by Buddha’s disciples. And I did indeed look."
Jianquan continued, "The Heaven of Transformation described in the book is a Mysterious Realm that allows one to enter another’s life through contact—not to spy, observe, or inspect, but to directly beco another, to experience a different life.
"I was once a peasant woman, holding my sick child who died at the age of three. Sitting in a dilapidated house, I wept bitterly for two days and nights until my tears ran dry. Then I had to pick up a hoe and return to the fields to work.
"I was once a destitute scholar, poor and rundown, with nothing to my na. On a cold New Year’s Eve, I got a jug of cloudy wine on credit from a tavern. While heating the wine by a firewood fla, I rembered my youthful ambitions to soar among the clouds and couldn’t help but tear up.
"I was once an old, limping soldier, skiving and conniving in the camp and cowardly on the battlefield, yet I was willing to jump into raging waters to save a child from my hotown who had fallen in.
"I was once a Priest who seed solemn and sacred, spewing morality and the doctrines of Haotian. In private, however, I was madly infatuated with a courtesan, even driven by jealousy to murder.
"I walked through the world, passing through crowds. With every brush of shoulders, with every glance back, I experienced a lifeti.
"Gradually, the Master Jianquan I once was beca like a drop of ink dissolving in a pool. I am still a monk, yet I am no longer *just* a monk."
Jianquan’s eyes lowered slightly. He gazed at a small insect that fluttered by, oblivious to the tense atmosphere, and spoke gently, "Buddha first spoke of the marvels of the Heaven of Transformation in Sarnath and never ntioned it again throughout his life. The owner of the notes speculated that Buddha believed the Heaven of Transformation could help people more quickly comprehend life’s sufferings and more rapidly embark on the path to understanding the Four Truths. But this thod is a shortcut. If a Cultivator lacks firm resolve and cannot maintain their self, they will fall into the terrible desire of experiencing infinite lives. They will forget who they are and their purpose in seeking enlightennt. It would not only fail to help beings achieve liberation but would also give rise to demonic thoughts. This would let Cultivators indulge in the pleasures manifested by other Heavenly People, just like Prince Māra of the Heaven of Transformation, and they would beco puppets of the Heaven of Transformation.
"Shixing Monk’s Pure Thought Sect, from its inception to its extinction over hundreds of years, devoted itself to deciphering the Sarnath Notes and reaching the realm of the Heaven of Transformation. All of them failed due to insufficient Cultivation, weak will, and inadequate karma.
"This humble monk is very likely the second Zen ditation practitioner in a millennium to possess such abilities."
Jianquan’s words remained calm, but his tone betrayed a will as firm as iron.
The soldiers of the Garrison on the courtyard walls felt an increasing sense of unease. So of them stooped low, hiding in the shadows at the edges of the walls. They took the chance to retreat quietly while Jianquan Monk spoke.
Li Ang’s peripheral vision caught their movents. Regardless of whether what Jianquan said was true or false (after all, the Sarnath Notes had a thousand-year history, and its authenticity was hard to discern), the old monk’s tone and expression alone were far from a healthy ntal state.
"Has the Master ever considered," Li Ang said gravely, buying ti for the Garrison soldiers retreating toward the Nearby Worm for help, "that even Buddha decided to destroy, or rather, deliberately neglect the teachings about the Heaven of Transformation? Is it possible that Buddha thought no one should ever learn of the Heaven of Transformation?"
"Your words are amiss," Jianquan smiled and said. "All phenona in the world arise from various causes and conditions. Your arrival in this world, lost and confused, is due to fate. Shixing Monk received the Pure Thought Sect inheritance due to fate. This humble monk’s obtaining of the Sarnath Notes was also due to fate. In the obscurity of destiny, everything is predestined."
"What do you an?"
Li Ang’s heart skipped a beat. Jianquan’s statent was strange.
Normally, shouldn’t it be "born into this world in utter confusion"? Why use the words "barge into"? Could the power of the Heaven of Transformation allow him to see my past, the deepest secrets buried in my heart?
Before he could ask again, Sui Yi, who was beside him, took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Master Jianquan, your realm must be the highest and most profound in the Central Earth Zen Sect since its beginning. But having understood the realm of the Heaven of Transformation, shouldn’t you ascend beyond the Candle Cloud Realm to the Near-Cliff Realm and set forth on the Dao Path that Buddha once walked? Why then do you remain in this mundane world, playing such gas with us juniors?"
"You are nad Sui Yi, correct?"
Jianquan nodded and said, "You are mistaken about two things. The Near-Cliff Realm and attaining Buddhahood may seem the sa, but they are actually different matters. The Near-Cliff Realm is about standing above the abyss, cautiously observing the fragile human world, as if walking on thin ice. Attaining Buddhahood, although possessing power equal to the Near-Cliff Realm, emphasizes the complete eradication of afflictions and negative karma, and entering into the very essence of all things and events—dependent origination. There is only one Buddha; he is the past, the present, and the future."
Jianquan’s tone was filled with infinite yearning. He knelt on the ground and bowed sincerely to Haotian.
While he knelt, the Garrison soldiers on the courtyard wall silently arranged themselves into formation, readying talismans, crossbow arrows, and arrays.
Jianquan ignored the moving shadows on the courtyard wall, stood up, and continued speaking to Sui Yi, "Secondly, the recent events in Xingzhou are not a ga. Gongsun Changyi and Xiong Tuohai were old friends of many years. Killing them also caused the part of that is still Jianquan to sigh deeply."
When you crushed the hearts of those two with your bare hands just now, it didn’t look at all like they were your old friends.
Li Ang silently ridiculed him in his heart, his fingers behind his back making various gestures to He Fanshuang, signaling escape.
Jianquan was a world-renowned leader of the Zen Sect and had been a Candle Cloud Cultivator for many years. After so long spent in diligent Cultivation, his power was probably far beyond that of Situ Zhi, whom Li Ang had t before.
Now, Gongsun Changyi and Xiong Tuohai were both dead. anwhile, the Imperial Palace Tributor, who had been protecting Li Leqing, had long since taken her out of Xingzhou on a Spiritual Energy Locomotive.
In the entire city, there were only the Garrison soldiers and three Cultivators: Sui Yi, Li Ang, and He Fanshuang.
If a fight were to break out, it wouldn’t be like throwing an egg at a rock; it would be like splashing water on stone.
The most prudent plan, naturally, was to run first and return to the Academic Palace for reinforcents.
Behind his back, Li Ang gestured to He Fanshuang: *Later. Situation bad. We. Escape. Disperse.* He had been taught related content in the Military Studies course at the Academic Palace, but he had been busy preparing lessons for the Imperial dical Bureau’s students at the ti and hadn’t listened carefully, only rembering the gist.
*"Your... lon... is very big? I like... smile?"* He Fanshuang watched the various hand gestures Li Ang made, her stern face etched with confusion.
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