Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 253: Fo Xin

Translator: Ninetales Editor: DarkGem

When Monk Ming Xin came to Eternal Peace Empire, he could still see clouds in the sky. The influence of the snow disaster had yet to fade, and soldiers continued to send disaster relief everywhere. The victims were still escaping for their lives while many bandits were plundering houses. Starving people were fleeing all over the place, unable to find any way to get by.

“There’s a white and tender monk here!” The starving people were delighted when they saw Monk Ming Xin. “We can eat him without washing!”

He immediately ran away. The starving people, who’ve been lacking food for quite a long time, could only give up since they couldn’t catch up to him. One of them said, “I told you not to make a noise. When he was close, we could have just pounced on him and taken a bite; this way, that white and tender monk wouldn’t have been able to run away.”

Monk Ming Xin’s heart was alarmed, and he trembled in fear. After starving for two-three days, he still couldn’t find anything to fill his stomach, yet, he had been chased over a dozen times by other starving people.

Great Thunderclap Monastery was serene, but the outside world was vicious, with famine everywhere. Such things were not written about in the buddhist scriptures, since only when one was full and warm could they think about buddhist scriptures.

The Heart Sutra that he had brought along was also useless; it couldn’t solve his problem of having no food.

His current whereabouts were slightly farther away from civilization, so it was too far for the imperial court to help. There were many victims of the disaster and starving people, as well as many corpses of those who had died strewn across the roadside.

There were also wild wolves and dogs which had become demons by eating human corpses. They formed packs and went around hunting those that were still alive.

Dogs were normally tame, but when a disaster came, they did not scoff at human flesh. They reproduced fast, and were even fiercer than wolves!

“This is hell…” Monk Ming Xin shed tears when he saw demons and corpses everywhere.

“Monk, do you have a child?” A thin victim with a pale face grabbed onto his clothes while holding in her embrace a child. Her face was pale and bony, starved. “Give your child to me, I’ll give mine to you, you can eat my child and I’ll eat yours…”

Monk Ming Xin screamed and broke free to escape.

“Rulai!” Monk Ming Xin ran countless miles until he could no longer run. He then knelt down onto the floor and shouted sorrowfully, “Are you not seeing this human world in Great Thunderclap Monastery?”

He walked forward muddleheaded, stumbling with every other step. When he saw a monastery in front of him, he went inside and saw a couple of humans hanging from the roof. They were stripped of their skin from head to toe, and there were some monks that were squatting in the corner, holding a metal basin with meat. When they saw him, they immediately said in astonishment, “Abbot, abbot, there’s a monk that’s been left on his own!”

The old abbot came out in a hurry. “Where are you from, monk? There aren’t a lot of rations left here and even the land has been gnawed a few times by the starving people. Yuan Ding, give him a bowl of food and let him leave. My buddha of compassion.”

A basin of human flesh was placed in front of Monk Ming Xin, stunning him. And he felt the buddha in his mind crumble and collapse.

He jumped up and frantically smashed the buddha statue nearby, pushing it down and smashing it into smithereens. The other monks came over in a hurry to stop him and said angrily, “This monk is crazy, he’s been possessed by the devil! To blaspheme against buddha, to deceive and destroy the ancestors!”

Monk Ming Xin let them beat him and didn’t retaliate. Soon, he turned into a bloody mess. At that moment, a group of officers with men arrived and slew the monks in the monastery.

“The monks were eating human flesh, they are really becoming lawless… General, there’s still a monk here who doesn’t look human anymore from all the beatings. Eh, there’s still breathing!”

The soldiers brought Mong Ming Xin for the general to take a look. “He won’t die. Monk, I see you have the ability, why didn’t you retaliate when they beat you?”

Monk Mong Xin said with a stupefied expression, “I have flaws all over me…”

The general smiled. “It’s good to have flaws, who doesn’t have them? Only experts know that they have flaws. You have some ability, so follow me to protect the land. These immigrants even gnaw on the land to dig out the grains that were just planted. Come people, burn this monastery down!”

The soldiers came forward to set fire and soon the monastery started burning.

Monk Ming Xin nodded, but then he remembered something. He immediately ran toward the fire. “My scripture!”

The general order his men to hold him back. “What scripture do you have? How thick is it?”

“Only two pages.”

“Such a cold weather yet such a thin scripture, can’t even be used for a fire.” The general raised a single finger, and sorrow could be seen in his eyes. “We just need to have one season of harvest, and all the people in the world will have things to eat and no longer starve. This world will become human world once more and not hell. Therefore, protecting the land is of utmost importance; we can’t let the immigrants ruin it! When the world is peaceful once more, you can go and read your buddhist scriptures. When that time comes, I’ll give you bucketloads of them myself so you can read whichever you want!”

Monk Ming Xin was stunned. Only read scriptures in times of peace?

Then how could they save those that were suffering? How could they enlighten all living things?

If they could not be used during times of chaos, able only to save people from suffering during times of peace, what use did they have?”

‘Cult Master Qin is right, those that write buddhist scriptures are not really rulais.’

When Monk Ming Xin left with the officers and their men, his plain cotton clothing and grass shoes that were once white were covered in bloodstains. ‘From today onwards, I’ll be my own rulai, I’ll write my own buddhist scriptures!’

In Great Thunderclap Monastery, the bell’s ring was long and drawn out, and Qin Mu looked toward the west. There he saw Great Ruins, which had been through a grave disaster. He then looked toward the east, and there lay Eternal Peace Empire, which was experiencing a snow disaster.

Great Thunderclap Monastery was right in the middle of both of them, not receiving any disaster or calamity. It was indeed a good place. The monks on the mountain had no worries and only needed to concentrate on studying buddhism, without being mindful of the disasters outside.

“Great Thunderclap Monastery has over four thousand cloisters, Heavenly Dragon Cloister and Heart Meditation Cloister being the more high-end cloisters. Every cloister is responsible for different things and what they comprehend is different. If there are any outstanding disciples, they will be taught by the old monks so they won’t need to move around from cloister to cloister,” Old Ma explained.

“For example, let’s take that Monk Ming Xin. He was specially taught by Monk Jing Ming, so he had a teacher to guide him and was more outstanding among the other monks. Those with the highest comprehension and buddha nature, meanwhile, are taught personally by Rulai.”

Qin Mu looked down and saw the mountains peaks were like petals of a lotus, surrounding the main golden peak which was in the center. There were tens of thousands of temples and monasteries with incense burning in front of them.

“Great Thunderclap Monastery does have its good points. It has quite a similarity with Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor on the teaching of disciples,” Qin Mu said while nodding.

Old Ma brought them around the mountain to visit the wonders there. At this moment, he led them toward an awe-inspiring pagoda. “Heavens Cloister’s first heaven is Yamaraja Cloister, the second heaven is Sagara Nagaraja Cloister which represents a state of mind in Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra. If you went to the topmost realm, there would be Sakra Cloister and Brahma Cloister there. If you would to count from that top, Brahma Cloister would be the first heaven.”

Qin Mu raised his head and was shaken. This pagoda was way too majestic. It was a magnificent sight with an air about it of truly standing above mountains and rivers

They walked into the pagoda and came to the first cloister, Yamaraja Cloister, where they saw a few young monks were cultivating Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra. An old monk immediately came forward and said, “Ma Wangshen.”

“We just want to walk around here.”

The old monk had a troubled expression when he said, “This is where we cultivate Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra…”

Suddenly, another voice spoke up. “Senior brother, our buddha said that there’s nothing to hide in Great Thunderclap Monastery; we can let them go anywhere.”

The old monk looked over and immediately said, “Fozi.”

A young monk walked in and greeted Old Ma, “Senior brother.” He then also greeted Qin Mu, “Cult Master Qin.”

Qin Mu returned the greeting and smiled. “So it’s Fozi Fo Xin. I saw you outside Imperial College once, but we’ve never met me before.”

This monk had a clean round head and gave off a feeling of something precious. His eyes were bright like jewels and his earlobes were like droplets of water. A red mark was drawn at the heart of his brows, which was very extraordinary. He was none other than Fozi Fo Xin.

Fozi Fo Xin had once followed Old Monk Jing Ming to block the gate of Imperial College, and Qin Mu had went to take a look. Because the young patriarch didn’t give him any benefits and Qin Mu still had to paralyze the green bull, they didn’t exchange blows.

When Imperial Physician You and the rest had paralyzed Imperial College, Si Yunxiang had sneaked out to fight and forced Fozi Fo Xin to retreat after being defeated.

Fozi Fo Xin sized up Qin Mu and saw that even though this Heavenly Devil Cult Master looked like a gentleman that was polite, cultured, and refined, he had a very invasive gaze. He could feel a wild and unruly bearing bursting forth from his gaze, stabbing into the inner hearts of others. This made his heart leap up uncontrollably. ‘The devil nature of this person is quite serious!’

Fo Xin said to the old monk, “Rulai said that’s there’s no problem even if we show Cult Master Qin Rulai’s Mahayana Suta. Without buddha nature, there’s absolutely no way to cultivate Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra of our Great Thunderclap Monastery. What’s more, Senior Brother Ma also used Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra, so if he wanted to teach Cult Master Qin, he would have done so a long time ago. Two benefactors and Senior Brother Ma, please study to your heart’s content.”

The old monk calmed down and started explaining to the little monks the marvel of the first heaven, Yamaraja Heaven. He no longer had any qualms about Qin Mu and the rest being here.

After a moment, Qin Mu comprehended something and used what he just heard about Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra. He felt cold and warmth in his body as if he had descended into hell and become yamaraja.

Fo Xin saw precious rays suddenly coming out from the youth’s body, and his heart jumped slightly. ‘Those are buddha rays! He had comprehended the first heaven of Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra just by standing here? Could he have a buddha nature? Isn’t he a devil?’

Old Ma also saw the buddha rays that had suddenly burst forth from his body and said, “Mu’er, you have already achieved the first heaven of Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra, so there’s no need to listen here anymore. Let us head to the next level.”

Qin Mu followed Old Ma and Blind to Sagara Nagaraja Cloister, and Fozi Fo Xin hurried after them. There was also an old monk here talking about all kinds of marvels of Sagara Nagaraja Heaven.

Not long later, Fozi Fo Xin saw the buddha rays on Qin Mu’s body becoming stronger.

He was greatly shaken. It was impossible for people with devil nature to cultivate Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra. Qin Mu was the Heavenly Devil Cult Master, a devil among devils, but he could actually cultivate to the second heaven of Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra just by standing and listening for a while. Wasn’t that just too shocking?

One has to know that the reason Fo Xin was called Fozi was because he had a pure and limpid heart of a newborn. Back when he had first come to this place, he had also managed to cultivate Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra to the fourth heaven in a short time, shaking Great Thunderclap Monastery. He was then honored with the name of Fozi.

From what he heard, it had been the same for Ma Wangshen as well. Fo Xin had heard about his legend, and it was rumored that Ma Wangshen had managed to cultivate to the fifth heaven in one shot. Due to this, Old Rulai had had extremely high expectations for him, grooming him to become his replacement.

‘The devil of Heavenly Devil Cult can’t have as great a buddha nature as me!’ Fo Xin thought to himself.

When they came to the third heaven, Qin Mu comprehended the mental state of Candra from Rulai’s Mahayana Sutra, cultivating Candra Heaven. Buddha rays appeared behind his head, and they were as splendid as moonlight. Yet there were not many monks who had cultivated to this heaven in the whole Candra Cloister!

When in the fourth heaven, Qin Mu comprehended the mental state of Surya, and buddha rays shone from the back of his head like a blazing sun. He was like an eminent monk who had achieved his Dao!

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