The author said: The heroine finally appeared, although it was only a glimpse... Happy New Year
————————————————
Yelu kowtowed hurriedly, saying, "I dare not, I dare not, I dare not. My young master admires the Holy Religion very much, and I have mentioned this to the altar master many times. Today, the master insisted on coming to pay homage, and I felt that this was also a good deed to promote the Holy Religion, so I thought of bringing the master in first and then reporting to the altar master." After saying that, he stood up and took out two paper-wrapped objects, one large and one small, from his sleeves. He slowly stood up and handed them to the altar master, and continued, "My master is devoted to the Tao, so here are two heartless objects to offer to the Holy Religion and the altar master!"
Temple Master Wang took the item without hesitation and weighed it twice in his hand. Yizhi could see clearly that something of this size must be pure gold. With this amount of pure gold, it was more than enough to buy several properties in Guangyang City.
Temple Master Wang stuffed the gold into his sleeves. It was unclear whether he kept the small or large portion for himself, or whether he took both portions for himself. He continued to speak calmly, "Since your daughter is interested in Taoism, I cannot go against your kindness. Just follow me in. However, you have been a member of the sect for some time. You must take good care of your daughter and do not disrupt the rules of our Holy Sect!"
Ye Lufang was about to smile and say yes, but the doorman beside him pointed at Qiu Yizhi who was following behind with his head down and scolded him, "Who is this person? How can he come in so easily?"
Qiu Yizhi was such a smart person that he naturally knew that the guy was upset because he got much less benefits than the leader, so he picked on him. However, although he understood it in his heart, he could not speak directly and waited to see how Yelu, the leader, would respond.
Unexpectedly, it was the pot-bellied leader Wang who spoke up: "Old Wang, you are too ignorant. I have heard that although the Yelu master's family is from Bohai, they are big merchants traveling between the two countries. It is not strange for a lady from a wealthy family to bring one or two servants with her." He turned around and said to Qiu Yizi, who was pretending to be an attendant, "But since you have joined the Tianzun Sect, everyone is equal and must abide by the rules of the Holy Sect."
Yizhi muttered to himself, "When did I join your Tianzun Sect?" But he didn't say anything. He nodded, followed Yiran silently, and entered the room where Master Wang appeared.
Although it was daytime, the house was dark. When the door was closed, the sunlight was completely blocked out, so that people could not see each other's faces, let alone the furnishings of the house.
The doorman surnamed Wang lit a small lamp and walked in front to lead the way. The small flame in the lamp kept shaking under the siege of darkness, and it seemed that it would go out at any time. Yizhi suddenly had an idea and realized that there was a wind in the house. There might be a window or a back door on the opposite wall.
The path to the hut was surprisingly deep. Old Wang led the group forward slowly. The dim light from the small lamp in his hand only illuminated a few steps, and the front was still pitch black. Altar Master Wang was obviously familiar with the darkness. He put his hands behind his back and walked forward calmly, followed closely by Yelu. Yelu had also walked through it several times before. He stood up straight in the darkness and looked back at Yiran from time to time. Although Yiran was quite courageous, she was a young woman after all, and she was a little worried. The more she walked, the closer she got to Qiu Yizi. Yizi's curiosity overcame her timidity. From time to time, she touched the wall and stepped on the ground, trying to figure out that it seemed like she was in a tunnel, but she really couldn't figure out what the situation was.
After walking for about half a cup of tea, there was a dim light in front of the tunnel. I took a few more steps and lifted a dark blue floor-length curtain. The view in front of me suddenly became clear and a huge hall appeared.
The hall was several dozen feet square, with an altar made of stone steps in front. On the wall behind the altar hung a cloth banner with four golden characters, "anger", "foolishness", "resentment" and "benevolence", which seemed to be the teachings of the Tianzun Sect. In front of the banner was a large bronze tripod that could be hugged by two people. A blazing flame was burning in the tripod. In front of the flame sat a person wearing a white cloak, motionless. Because of the backlight, Yizhi squinted his eyes to look carefully, but still couldn't see the person's face clearly, only feeling extremely solemn. Apart from the flame in the tripod, there was no other light source in the hall. About two or three hundred believers knelt densely in the darkness, looking up at the flames, and suddenly felt their own insignificance and ignorance.
When Lord Wang saw Yiran and Yizhi coming for the first time, he was very surprised and felt somewhat proud. He said to Yelu, "Your master is lucky today as the Heavenly Lord has sent down a messenger. You must be careful in dealing with it. If you offend the angel, you will suffer eternal damnation. All right, you just stand behind and don't act rashly!" After saying that, he walked calmly up to the altar through a passage made clear by the believers, knelt down and saluted to the man in the white cloak, and stood aside.
Yizhi thought about how powerful the altar master Wang was just now, and how he was so respectful to that person. He thought that person's status in the Tianzun Sect must be much higher than that of the altar master, but he couldn't guess his origin, so he knelt beside Yiran like Yelu. Yiran was originally a daughter of the grassland, and she was also a princess of a country. She was very straightforward. Yizhi was afraid that she would get angry because she didn't want to kneel down to worship the cult, so he secretly looked at her reaction. Unexpectedly, Yiran was very happy and looked around the people in the hall. It was obvious that curiosity prevailed. Qiu Yizhi was relieved when he saw this, so he carefully imitated the behavior of the believers around him, thinking that he should not reveal his true identity.
As Yizhi was thinking, the flames on the altar suddenly burst into flames, emitting a huge amount of light, sound and heat, which came towards him, as if he had been hit hard on the head, and his mind went blank instantly. Fortunately, the light, sound and heat came and went in an instant. As they dissipated, Yizhi's ears gradually rang with the sound of believers chanting in the hall, and he heard:
The light is universal and pure, and there is eternal bliss and tranquility without any moving curse;
He experiences happiness and has no worries. To say that there is suffering is not true.
If one can live in that country, he will ultimately be free from all worries.
Always feel happy and bright, if you say you are sick, that is not true.
The place is pure and dignified, and all evil impurities are not there;
Happiness fills the whole body and one is always at peace. There is no point in using words to bully others.
Hundreds of believers chanted in unison, the sound of chanting was low and neat, like the sound of the ocean tide, or like thunder in the dark clouds. After hearing it for a long time, Yizhi couldn't help but chant along. The oath was recited dozens of times before it gradually stopped, but it still echoed in Yizhi's ears.
The leader of the altar, Wang, who was standing nearby, shouted in person: "All disciples, listen respectfully to the angel's instructions!"
After calling out, the person in white did not stand up, but just said motionlessly: "Under the Heavenly Lord, there is no order or hierarchy, only loyalty, respect, faith and righteousness." The angel spoke slowly and his voice was not very loud, so the believers below held their breath and listened quietly. Yizhi listened carefully. He had heard for a long time that the Heavenly Lord had the doctrine of worshiping saints. The person in white was clearly a woman just by the voice, so he continued to listen to her and said: "Has Mr. Zhang from the silk shop on West Street in the inner city of Guangyang been here?"
Yizhi and Yiran walked forward two rows of believers and saw a very fat body moving, straightening its upper body slightly, and saying, "Disciple is here!"
The woman in white didn't even look at him, and said to herself, "Do you know how the Heavenly Venerable teaches the disciples of the Holy Church about loyalty and trust?"
"I know that disciples of the Holy Religion are all brothers and sisters, and we will never betray them!"
"Very good! You still know!" Even though she was blaming him, the woman in white still spoke in the same slow tone as before, "Then let me ask you, Miss Tan Yinjuan who works in your silk shop, you molested her several times, is this also what you did to your own sister?"
Zhang Yizhi knew about this. He was a well-known silk merchant in Jiangnan. Hearing that Guangyang's trade was booming, he entrusted his Jiangnan store to his nephews and went north to run the business himself. He was a well-known big business in Guangyang City. Zhang Yizhi couldn't help shaking when he heard the white-clothed woman's questioning. It was obvious that he was greatly frightened. He said intermittently: "Disciple didn't know... didn't know that Miss Tan was also a disciple of the Holy Church, otherwise... otherwise I would never dare... dare to do this."
"Hmph!" The woman's anger grew, and she scolded, "You are so good at making excuses. Haven't you heard that all beings are equal under the Heavenly Venerable? It's just a matter of who enters the Dao first or later. Although Miss Tan Yinjuan is not a disciple of the Holy Church now, can she not enter the Dao in the future? If someone slaughters the believers of the Holy Church before entering the Dao, can their crimes be written off once they enter the Dao? What you said today, Mr. Zhang, is just a blind spot, and you have insulted the teachings of the Heavenly Venerable!" As she spoke, she raised her hand and called the two maids beside her, saying, "Mr. Zhang is blind, just gouge him out!"
The two maids received the order, each took a dagger in their hands, and jumped off the altar. Qiu Yizhi stole a glance at the two maids, both of them were about fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features, but the posture of digging out someone's eyes was chilling. The believers below stood up and made way for the two to walk straight to Mr. Zhang.
Mr. Zhang was a fat man with a face full of flesh. Seeing the two maids approaching like ferocious monsters, he had no intention of resisting. He just kept kowtowing and begged, "Please, angel, spare my life. I am willing to donate half of the assets of Guangyang Silk Shop to help the Holy Church broadcast to atone for my sins!"
As soon as the words fell, the two maids holding knives stopped and looked back at the woman in white. The woman sat in front of the copper tripod burning with fire, nodded silently, and said: "Since Mr. Zhang has a repentant heart, he is a good disciple of the Holy Church. Master Wang, you take Mr. Zhang down and help him review the teachings of the Heavenly Lord." It was called reviewing the teachings, but in fact it was a contract for the transfer of assets. Mr. Zhang had no choice but to follow Master Wang to who knows where, and the back of his purple silk robe was soaked with sweat.
As the two walked away, the woman on the altar cleared her throat and suddenly asked, "Excuse me, Your Highnesses, the Fourth Prince of King Youyan and the Princess of Bohai, how did our sect judge this case?"
Yizhi was startled: he and Yiran were acting like cult disciples, so there shouldn't be any flaws. Turning his head to look at Yiran beside him, he suddenly realized that Yiran was a foreigner and was very famous in Guangyang City, so she couldn't hide her identity by just dressing up; however, if Yiran was not with him, he would not be able to get a glimpse of the true face of Tianzun Sect. Thinking of this, Yizhi was relieved, so he stood up and patted the dust on his knees, and said loudly: "Your sect's promotion and punishment are not limited to relatives or strangers, which is quite magnanimous. I really admire it. It's a pity that you first assume that Miss Tan is a disciple of your sect, and then use the sect's methods to deal with matters outside the sect. It can be said that you are putting the cart before the horse."
Yizhi was about to say a few more words when Yiran beside him suddenly jumped up and said, "I think your decision to help Miss Tan is fake, but your real intention is to seize the wealth of the wealthy Zhang family! This kind of cunning and violent robbery is exactly what your evil cult intends..."
-------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- --
PS. The original form of the "Tianzun Sect" in the article is the "White Lotus Sect". The mantra in it is inspired by the "Xia Bu Zan" of Manichaeism. Manichaeism and the White Lotus Sect have a succession relationship, so the mantra is appropriate to use here. (To be continued)