Chapter 26 Epiphany
"Three years ago, the Yellow River diverted. The flooding covered over Henan Road and Jingxi Road. Thousands of families lost their homes. Several thousands of refugees were starving to death. These refugees begged you monks who owned the farmlands on their knees to cut their farm rents. At that time, where was your equality?”
"I only saw a few hundred monks beating the refugees with sticks and knives, dispelling the farmers. A lot of them got hurt so much that they couldn’t farm anymore.”
"Among those injured, there were my parents. But they had no money. In the end, my parents had to sell me to Shaolin temple in exchange for a bag of rice and flour.
"Originally I thought you treated us differently because we were not disciples of the Buddha. If those begging you were also disciples of the Buddha, you might have treated them differently. But I was wrong again. It turned out monks are different from lamas.
"Even in Shaolin temple, different monks are treated differently. Those young monks bought from the market were not as good as those who were raised by Shaolin temple. Those who were raised by Shaolin temple were not as good as those being donated to the temple. Those who were donated to the temple were not as good as the relatives of the temple hosts. There were also different ranks among child monks. From the lowest level to the highest level, there were gate keepers, food makers, hall keepers and then the martial monks...”
"Like me, I stood at the gate every day. But I didn’t even have a name.”
"Every day from the morning till night, I was not allowed to chant, to practice martial arts or enter the classics library... So now can you tell me, where is the equality in Shaolin temple?” Xie Baoer looked over to the monks. His logical arguments made the monks feel that he might really be the reincarnated king.
"But Baoer, even if this is the case, you can't..." The youngest monk couldn't help but spoke. It seemed that only he was looking at Xie Baoer with sympathy and regrets.
"I didn’t do it! Brother Xiangyan, you have always treated me the best. Don’t you trust me?”
"I just... Just sneaked into the classics library to read books. I like the words in books and the smell of books..."
"Do you even read?"
"In the beginning, I couldn't read either. There were a few books, for no reason, I was able to read them. I couldn’t recognize the characters, but somehow I could read the book out. Later on, the more time I spent in the library, the more characters I was able to recognize.”
The red lama smiled and explained, “Being the reincarnated king, you were with the talent of the lord. Reading books is a natural skill.”
Xie Baoer continued: "Later, I was caught by the master in the library at night."
"The master was so angry that he took a stick to beat me.”
"I was very shocked. Wasn’t it the Buddhist temple? Wasn’t it the place where the Buddha promoted Buddhism to the human beings? Why did I get beaten on for learning Buddhism? I was shocked and challenged the master with my reasoning.”
"The master laughed out. Everyone could tell it was really weird. He told me he was sold to Shaolin temple the same as me. He had been the gate keeper for five years, the cook for five years and the hall keeper for five years. It was not until when he turned 30 years old was he allowed the chance to learn Buddhism.”
"But, after all, it was too late for him to start learning martial arts. He started everything from stage zero, spending time learning characters and the Buddhism theories. But he couldn’t understand the theories. He was still a lowest level monk when he reached the age of 50.”
"He smirked and said to me—he had wasted his whole life in Shaolin temple. How could he allow us to be luckier than him to start learning martial arts earlier?”
"He also said, the Zen sect talks about epiphany? If there is really such thing as talent, why don’t anyone show him such talent and insight? On one in Shaolin temple was able to prove to him the real existence of the Buddha.”
"He then laughed out loud. Finally, finally, he talked his hatred. He felt extremely happy!”
"He looked at me in a strange way and told me—Baoer, you are lucky. You will be send to the Buddha very soon. You don’t need to suffer here for your whole life in the temple...I don’t understand why my master said I was born with luck...”
Although Xie Baoer was young, he was good at describing. He simulated the mood and tone of his master well. There was no one thought he was telling a lie.
Up to now, everyone knew that his master had decided to kill him. So they all felt heart-tightened. But Xie Baoer continued—
"I still thought my master would just let me go. But he lifted up the stick. Accidentally, the stick knocked down the oil lamp. Oil got spilled over him and started burning. He was in a rush to pull out the fire without noticing the slippery floor. So he fell down and his head hit on the shelves. In the end, he lost conscious. ”
"It happened like this. The bookshelf was knocked down. Fire spread from his body to books and to other bookshelves. It got out of control...”
"I ran out to look for help right away. But it was too late to save the fire.”
"..." The monks were silent. They felt it was the heavenly cycle the eventually revenged on the boy’s master.
"Fortunately, fortunately, the ancient reincarnation of my own Buddha is blessed!" For the lamas, there was another explanation for what happaned.
The mountain temple was dead silent. A sudden laughter from the top of the wall broke all the silence.
DuDu Hong couldn’t stand the story anymore. He felt that the system developers of “The martial world” were making nonsense. Though he didn’t witness the monk burning, this story was way too bland compared to how he was struck to death by the thunder on top of the Cangshan mountain.
"Who?" Hearing the laughter, people on the ground were alerted.
“Peep, peep!” Niuhuang lifted his neck and imitated the sounds of birds. It was really like birds. The people on the ground were not doubting.
The sect Niuhuang belonged to was famous for little cheating tricks like these.
"A great imitation!" Dugu Hong made an accomplishment.
"Of course..." Niuhuang said proudly.
Niuhuang’s flying skill was indeed an art. Not only because it was one of the top level flying skills in the world, but also because it was a combination of flying skill, pacing skill, hiding trick and an internal force.
This flying skill did not rely on internal cycle or big cycles. Hence, there were unlimited times for the flying skill to be applied during one day. It could be used anytime simultaneously with other skills.
Chapter 26 Epiphany
"Three years ago, the Yellow River diverted. The flooding covered over Henan Road and Jingxi Road. Thousands of families lost their homes. Several thousands of refugees were starving to death. These refugees begged you monks who owned the farmlands on their knees to cut their farm rents. At that time, where was your equality?”
"I only saw a few hundred monks beating the refugees with sticks and knives, dispelling the farmers. A lot of them got hurt so much that they couldn’t farm anymore.”
"Among those injured, there were my parents. But they had no money. In the end, my parents had to sell me to Shaolin temple in exchange for a bag of rice and flour.
"Originally I thought you treated us differently because we were not disciples of the Buddha. If those begging you were also disciples of the Buddha, you might have treated them differently. But I was wrong again. It turned out monks are different from lamas.
"Even in Shaolin temple, different monks are treated differently. Those young monks bought from the market were not as good as those who were raised by Shaolin temple. Those who were raised by Shaolin temple were not as good as those being donated to the temple. Those who were donated to the temple were not as good as the relatives of the temple hosts. There were also different ranks among child monks. From the lowest level to the highest level, there were gate keepers, food makers, hall keepers and then the martial monks...”
"Like me, I stood at the gate every day. But I didn’t even have a name.”
"Every day from the morning till night, I was not allowed to chant, to practice martial arts or enter the classics library... So now can you tell me, where is the equality in Shaolin temple?” Xie Baoer looked over to the monks. His logical arguments made the monks feel that he might really be the reincarnated king.
"But Baoer, even if this is the case, you can't..." The youngest monk couldn't help but spoke. It seemed that only he was looking at Xie Baoer with sympathy and regrets.
"I didn’t do it! Brother Xiangyan, you have always treated me the best. Don’t you trust me?”
"I just... Just sneaked into the classics library to read books. I like the words in books and the smell of books..."
"Do you even read?"
"In the beginning, I couldn't read either. There were a few books, for no reason, I was able to read them. I couldn’t recognize the characters, but somehow I could read the book out. Later on, the more time I spent in the library, the more characters I was able to recognize.”
The red lama smiled and explained, “Being the reincarnated king, you were with the talent of the lord. Reading books is a natural skill.”
Xie Baoer continued: "Later, I was caught by the master in the library at night."
"The master was so angry that he took a stick to beat me.”
"I was very shocked. Wasn’t it the Buddhist temple? Wasn’t it the place where the Buddha promoted Buddhism to the human beings? Why did I get beaten on for learning Buddhism? I was shocked and challenged the master with my reasoning.”
"The master laughed out. Everyone could tell it was really weird. He told me he was sold to Shaolin temple the same as me. He had been the gate keeper for five years, the cook for five years and the hall keeper for five years. It was not until when he turned 30 years old was he allowed the chance to learn Buddhism.”
"But, after all, it was too late for him to start learning martial arts. He started everything from stage zero, spending time learning characters and the Buddhism theories. But he couldn’t understand the theories. He was still a lowest level monk when he reached the age of 50.”
"He smirked and said to me—he had wasted his whole life in Shaolin temple. How could he allow us to be luckier than him to start learning martial arts earlier?”
"He also said, the Zen sect talks about epiphany? If there is really such thing as talent, why don’t anyone show him such talent and insight? On one in Shaolin temple was able to prove to him the real existence of the Buddha.”
"He then laughed out loud. Finally, finally, he talked his hatred. He felt extremely happy!”
"He looked at me in a strange way and told me—Baoer, you are lucky. You will be send to the Buddha very soon. You don’t need to suffer here for your whole life in the temple...I don’t understand why my master said I was born with luck...”
Although Xie Baoer was young, he was good at describing. He simulated the mood and tone of his master well. There was no one thought he was telling a lie.
Up to now, everyone knew that his master had decided to kill him. So they all felt heart-tightened. But Xie Baoer continued—
"I still thought my master would just let me go. But he lifted up the stick. Accidentally, the stick knocked down the oil lamp. Oil got spilled over him and started burning. He was in a rush to pull out the fire without noticing the slippery floor. So he fell down and his head hit on the shelves. In the end, he lost conscious. ”
"It happened like this. The bookshelf was knocked down. Fire spread from his body to books and to other bookshelves. It got out of control...”
"I ran out to look for help right away. But it was too late to save the fire.”
"..." The monks were silent. They felt it was the heavenly cycle the eventually revenged on the boy’s master.
"Fortunately, fortunately, the ancient reincarnation of my own Buddha is blessed!" For the lamas, there was another explanation for what happaned.
The mountain temple was dead silent. A sudden laughter from the top of the wall broke all the silence.
DuDu Hong couldn’t stand the story anymore. He felt that the system developers of “The martial world” were making nonsense. Though he didn’t witness the monk burning, this story was way too bland compared to how he was struck to death by the thunder on top of the Cangshan mountain.
"Who?" Hearing the laughter, people on the ground were alerted.
“Peep, peep!” Niuhuang lifted his neck and imitated the sounds of birds. It was really like birds. The people on the ground were not doubting.
The sect Niuhuang belonged to was famous for little cheating tricks like these.
"A great imitation!" Dugu Hong made an accomplishment.
"Of course..." Niuhuang said proudly.
Niuhuang’s flying skill was indeed an art. Not only because it was one of the top level flying skills in the world, but also because it was a combination of flying skill, pacing skill, hiding trick and an internal force.
This flying skill did not rely on internal cycle or big cycles. Hence, there were unlimited times for the flying skill to be applied during one day. It could be used anytime simultaneously with other skills.
