The Toad Taoist closed his eyes tightly, as the expected Buddhist Dharma to subdue demons and eliminate evil did not come.
His eyeballs rolled in his closed eyelids, and then he slowly opened his eyes and raised his head. He saw the monk's shoes and robes extending upwards, and the old monk was standing there with his Dharma seal upright, motionless.
"Why don't you do anything, you bald ass? Are you trying to make fun of me?"
The old monk shook his head and said, "Zixing Taoist is a great demon, his cultivation is unfathomable, even several large sects can hardly deal with him, how dare this poor monk laugh at him."
"When you said this, you were already mocking me."
Anyway, he was at the mercy of others, so the Toad Taoist simply climbed up and sat there, looking at the scenery of the cliff opposite. "In the past, I committed evil, killed people and robbed treasures, causing endless harm. Today, I have fallen into your hands, so hurry up and take action."
There was no response from behind him, only the sound of a tin staff being stuck into the ground. The old monk rolled up his sleeves, walked over with a smile, and sat down cross-legged next to the Toad Taoist.
Toad glanced at it, a little surprised.
"Why don't you do it? I remember there was an old bald donkey named Zhenhai. He was more skillful than you."
"Heh..."
The old monk chuckled and spoke after a moment: "That is my junior fellow monk. He is now in seclusion to meditate on Buddhism. My Buddhist name is Zhenkong."
Then, he silently chanted the Buddha's name.
"Hmph, what's the difference?!" The Toad Taoist glanced at the dice that fell not far away, sighed, hugged his flippers, and nodded slightly: "If it weren't for the backlash of my cultivation being devoured, how could I allow your junior brother to be so rampant, and how could I sit here and talk slowly with a bald donkey like you."
"How is it not good now?"
The two of them chatted with each other like old friends. Monk Zhenkong did not seem to be in a hurry to deal with Toad Taoist and said with a smile.
"It's not a bad thing for you and I to sit here and talk about the past in peace. As the Buddhists say, if you have good thoughts in your heart, you will be able to see the truth in the mirror... In fact, you know that you killed too many people in the past, which led to the backlash. Isn't it time for you to have good thoughts and the fruits of your virtue to come back?"
"It seems that you, a bald ass, want to save a sinful demon like me?"
At this point, the Toad Taoist held his flippers and laughed out loud, and the gourd behind him was shaking.
"Ha ha-"
"You Buddhists really want to save everyone. Do you think that as long as you kill someone and put down your butcher knife, you will be accepted? Then I will kill a few more people, and you can come and save me!"
With Toad's current demonic power, he is simply unable to see the Buddhist attainments of the old monk next to him. Rather than being lectured by him, it would be better to provoke him into a quick death.
When he stood up from the ground and was about to leave, avoiding the old monk beside him, he heard the other party's voice.
"I have already been trying to save you."
The moving flippers suddenly stopped, the Toad Taoist's body trembled, and he turned around abruptly to look at the monk's back.
"Since I was seriously injured, everything I did has been met with misfortune. It turns out that you are the one behind this!"
"Buddha have mercy on me!"
Over there, the old monk who was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the cliff stood up, turned around with his seal raised, looked at the Toad Taoist priest, and lowered his head slightly.
"Have you ever heard that sins are so serious that they can only be offset by reversing the flow of cause and effect? Today's suffering may not be a bad thing. Otherwise, how can you have a new hope and a new life?"
The Toad Taoist, who had originally had an angry look on his face, was suddenly stunned.
Over there, the monk suddenly smiled and walked over.
"Just now you asked me whether Buddhism can accept everyone. I will answer you now. Buddhism has angry-eyed Vajra, who also subdues demons and monsters. Not everyone, including monsters, can be converted."
"Then why do you want to save me?"
Knowing that the other party had changed his destiny and was using suffering to offset his sins, to be able to do this, the level of cultivation required was probably something that even the Toad Taoist could not reach.
But now, it becomes a new question why such people with profound Buddhist knowledge do not eliminate demons but instead save themselves.
The remaining petals are about to fall from the mountain top, and birds are chirping and hovering in the sky.
In the rosy glow, the old monk just smiled, and after a long while he opened his mouth to reply, saying something that made Toad Taoist's scalp tingle.
"Do you remember the tombstone you erected in Mount Qishan? The woman in the tomb was the daughter I left behind in the secular world before I became a monk..."
Hearing this, the bumps on Toad Taoist's back swelled up and almost burst.
"You...your daughter..."
"I repay you with my debt. I have sacrificed a hundred years of practice to give you one more chance."
His mother's...
The Toad Taoist felt numb all over and turned away, "This is nonsense! You must be crazy to say such a thing. I am too old to find a son-in-law, so why not find a younger one!"
While he was shouting and cursing, the direction he was heading was the place where he had rested with Lu Liangsheng before. No one knew why he walked back here.
Looking at the empty surroundings with only the rustling sound of the wind in the forest, he pursed his lips and continued to move forward.
"See, now that you have a concern in your heart, you have walked out of the sins of the past."
At some point, the old monk followed the Toad Taoist, walking slowly with his staff, and the Toad looked back at him.
"That woman, could she really be my father-in-law?"
Thinking of this terrible thought, he turned his head back: "I have lost a hundred years of cultivation. Humph... He is as stupid as my disciple who overestimates his own abilities."
Behind him, the old monk chuckled and said, "Whether you save a human or a demon, it is all immeasurable merit."
"Okay, there just so happens to be a great demon in the capital, who is only slightly inferior to me at my peak. Go and try to save it!"
"Then I must go and take a look."
"Be careful or you'll get eaten, old bald donkey!"
"Haha... Buddha have mercy on me."
The short and skinny old monks were talking to each other one after another, and the journey was quite lively.
…
The glow of the sunset descended, the night swept in, and soon the day rose again on the horizon.
There are stars dotting the leaden blue sky in the early morning.
The fifteenth day of August has arrived.
The Tianzhi city gate was slowly opened by the soldiers as usual. Before the merchants waiting to enter the city passed by, a fast horse came galloping from the end of the official road. The man was wearing the robes of a police officer and had four long swords on his back. The sleepy soldiers did not dare to stop him, thinking that he was an urgent errand. They drove away a few merchants and let the man rush into the city gate.
Step on...
The sound of horse hooves churned across the bluestone-paved streets. People were already walking on the streets. Amid the steam, they went to buy some breakfast and prepared to start their day.
Hearing the sound of horse hooves approaching, he quickly pulled his friend aside.
"These officials don't care about their own lives, and they don't care about other people's lives!"
"It's so urgent, there won't be any urgent news from the border, right?!" "Who knows!"
"Stop talking. Find a job and go back home early to spend time with your family. That's what's most important."
As the words were spoken, the knight turned at the end of the street and ran towards the officials' residences. He randomly found a mansion of an official who did not have to attend court, dismounted, and knocked on the door.
The moment someone opened the door, Zuo Zhengyang pushed it open directly, and the huge force caused the old doorman to stumble backwards.
"What do you do?!"
However, the figure with a knife in his hand ignored him and walked straight inside. A security guard came to try to stop him, but he was knocked away by the guard and hung on a tree branch.
Boom!
Arriving at the backyard, Zuo Zhengyang kicked the dormitory door open with an expressionless face, causing the window frame to vibrate. Then, he neatly pulled out the thin knife from his waist.
In the darkness, someone turned his head and was greeted by a cold light.
puff!
The person in the inner room fell to the ground with a bang, blood all over the floor, emitting a foul smell. Zuo Zhengyang approached with a knife in his hand, poked the corpse with the tip of the knife, and used his arm to poke it hard!
A huge centipede was hanging in the air.
The guards and servants who had surrounded and shouted turned pale with fear and retreated away together. When the women from the mansion who had rushed over saw this scene, their eyes rolled back and they fainted.
"evildoer!"
Zuo Zhengyang chopped the dead centipede into two halves with one blow of his knife, put away the knife, strode out of the mansion, mounted his horse and headed straight for the imperial city.
At the gate of the imperial city, the soldiers saw him and greeted him with a smile.
"Zuo Qianwei, you have captured the Shangshu Lord. This is a great achievement."
The knight who came over did not dismount, but walked over and asked in a low voice: "Are all the officials in court? Is the Protector of the Nation still here?"
"Well… "
The soldier was stunned by this sudden attack, and then reacted: "Qian Wei, don't make a joke. The civil and military officials must be in the court at this time. As for the Dharma Master who protects the country, I don't know. Is there something important that Qian Wei wants to see the Dharma Master?"
"Um."
Zuo Zhengyang nodded. No one noticed that his hands holding the reins were trembling slightly. He whispered, "Go!"
He urged his horse to go in and galloped wildly along the palace road. Looking at the brightly lit palace outline ahead, Zuo Zhengyang loosened one hand and took the hilt of the sword at his waist.
In the deserted square, he pulled the reins and stopped his horse.
Looking at the majestic palace extending beyond the stone steps, the voices rang out hysterically.
"You monsters—"
With a long clang, he drew out his sword.
"—How dare you occupy the emperor's palace? Get out of here!!"