Chapter 41 Monk

In the pitch-dark forest path, Li Huowang led the others forward with a torch in hand.

The sky was still dark, but after the recent scares, none of them felt the least bit sleepy; after all that had happened, no one could think of sleep.

Some horse meat they had cut off was piled on the donkey cart, and besides a few pieces of silver found on the bandits' corpses, this was all that Li Huowang had left as spoils.

"This should do, we'll rest here until dawn, it's not safe to travel at night," Li Huowang ordered, and promptly, the torches were gathered together, forming a new campfire.

"If you can't sleep, just rest your eyes—we'll need to continue our journey tomorrow. Save your strength, I'll keep watch."

As the sounds of donkey hooves and footsteps faded, the path fell silent once more.

Sitting by the fire, Li Huowang turned to look down the road they had come from; it was pitch-black, seeming as if the old beggar wouldn't catch up until he had buried all the dead.

Thinking back on everything that had happened, Li Huowang felt a wave of emotion—this place was indeed in chaos.

All sorts of dangers abounded, and instead of sticking together, people of their own kind still killed each other.

He poked the dying embers of the campfire with his longsword and grabbed some firewood to throw into it.

As time slipped by, those scattered in the forest started to gather around Li Huowang's campfire; soon, several smaller campfires began to rise around it.

The returning people did not include anyone from the Lv family, but Li Huowang wasn't worried; when the bandits attacked, they were the quickest to flee.

Top Scholar Lv truly lived up to his seasoned Jianghu reputation—no wonder such a stingy man would choose horses for his carriage. He must have anticipated today's events long ago.

Time passed, and dawn gradually approached. The others began to wake up, roasted horse meat for breakfast, and prepared for the new journey ahead.

Never mind how it tasted—as long as it was meat, it would do a good job replenishing their strength.

Just as they were hungrily devouring the meat, a tremulous figure approached from behind.

Seeing who it was, Li Huowang's guard was lowered slightly—it was the old beggar from before, who seemed to have been burying the dead all night.

The morning dew soaked his tattered monk's robe, chilling him to the bone as he shivered. He walked a bit closer to the campfire and squatted down, curling into a ball.

Noticing Li Huowang's gaze, the beggar gave him a simple, goofy smile.

Reflecting on the beggar's selfless act of saving others the night before, Li Huowang's hostility towards him lessened substantially.

Although he thought that someone with such naive kindness would not last long in this dangerous world, no one would reject the company of a good person.

Seeing Li Huowang hand him a mantou, the beggar quickly reached out to take it, chewing and mumbling, "May the Buddha bless you."

Hearing this, Li Huowang's interest was piqued, "This 'Buddha' you speak of—exactly which Buddha is that?"

"Eh? Isn't Buddha just called Buddha? Is there a difference?" confusion showed in the old beggar's eyes.

"Well, eat up. It's rare to find someone like you in these times. I hope you're not deceiving me."

"How could I possibly deceive anyone? I am a monk, and monks do not deceive," the old beggar stated emphatically.

"You only know how to chant 'Amitabha,' and you don't even know which Buddha it is you worship—what kind of monk are you?"

"Sun Scholar says monks are bald, so I shaved my head bald; Tailor Wang says monks can't take wives, so I don't take a wife! Liu Pu better say monks can't eat meat, and I won't eat meat! And when I see other monks chanting 'Amitabha Buddha,' I learn to chant 'Amitabha Buddha' too. I've done all that, so why can't I be a monk?"

The old beggar seemed to care a lot about this, defending his position stubbornly.

Hearing the beggar's claim, Li Huowang couldn't help but let out a wry laugh. The beggar's monk act was even faker than his own Taoist ways. "But that doesn't mean you're a monk."

The old beggar paused, looking earnestly at Li Huowang while holding half a mantou. "Then you tell me, what should a monk be like?"

Facing the man's gaze, Li Huowang opened his mouth to speak, but found he couldn't answer the question. There seemed to be a glimmer of truth within the beggar's seemingly foolish words.

For some reason, Li Huowang saw the shadow of Master Danyang in him—the determined persistence amidst naivety.

"I guess you can't read, can you?"

"How did you know? Are all Taoists so good at divination?"

"Heh."

"Why are you so obsessed with becoming a monk?"

"If it hadn't been for a monk who saved me, I would have died long ago. Since that day, I swore I would become a monk! I'm determined to be a good monk!"

As they talked, Li Huowang saw Lv's Troupe approaching in the distance and got up, patting the dust off his rear, and walked towards them.

Nothing untoward happened on the way, and the old monk kept up, sometimes seen chewing on raw wild vegetables out of hunger. Li Huowang occasionally bestowed one or two mantous as charity.

After more than ten days of traveling, an even more magnificent city than Jianye appeared before Li Huowang, the Western Capital City had arrived.

The contiguous blue brick city walls were grand and tall, and looking up from the gate, an overwhelming sense of oppression enveloped him,

"Have we finally arrived?" he thought to himself as he reached the city gates, feeling a relief wash over him after a harrowing journey, grateful that no scenes from his nightmares had come to pass.

"Little Taoist Master, you can't just stay at any inn in the Western Capital City—they'll fleece you. I'll take you to an inn, definitely cheap," Top Scholar Lv spoke as he began walking towards the towering city gate but was stopped by Li Huowang.

"Wait, where is that Buddhist Temple you mentioned before?" Li Huowang asked eagerly, as it was his primary reason for coming to this place.

Under the guidance of Top Scholar Lv, Li Huowang headed towards Zhengde Temple, the most incense-rich monastery in the Western Capital City.

Even without seeing the temple, Li Huowang could smell the unique sandalwood scent of the Buddhist realm. The spacious street started to get crowded.

The elderly, women, adults, children, there was a variety of people.

Seeing them holding several stacks of incense sticks, Li Huowang immediately understood they were all going to offer prayers to Buddha.

"Has this temple always been this popular?"

Hearing Li Huowang speak to Top Scholar Lv beside him, a neighboring pilgrim interjected: "Of course, the Bodhisattvas of Zhengde Temple are very efficacious! My daughter-in-law got pregnant after praying here just once."

"And the masters of Zhengde Temple are very kind, regularly distributing porridge to the poor every few days."

"Yes, yes. Having such a good temple in the Western Capital City is really the blessing of several lifetimes."