Chapter 14: Releasing Life

"Amitabha, move them gently, be careful." A woman old enough to be Luo Qi's aunt followed behind him, chanting.

"Yeah, yeah." Luo Qi looked a bit miserable; he had just helped someone lift a large woven bag out of a car trunk. "What is in here? It's soft, why is it moving?"

"Young man, how can living things not move? If they were dead, it wouldn't be called releasing life."

Luo Qi felt the movement of the heavy object in his arms, and his scalp tingled. "It isn't a snake, is it?"

The older woman smiled compassionately. "All living beings are equal; so what if it's a snake? Besides, snakes are the most spiritual; releasing snakes earns the most merit!"

"Ah!"

Guan Xinyue was watching the excitement with great delight. She and Du Zhengyi were standing by with their hands tucked into their sleeves, watching Luo Qi busy himself helping the lay Buddhist unload the cargo. They had only just seen a few monks come out from the building in the back when the motorcade for the life-releasing arrived.

Guan Xinyue carefully circled behind Luo Qi and said with a giggle, "The Buddha speaks of cause and effect. You are helping to save snakes in this temple today; what a great affinity this must be? It is all recorded on the Stone of Three Lives; who knows, maybe your wife in your next life is in this bag. You better be careful, don't drop her and hurt her."

Luo Qi was already sweating profusely from the work, and now, hearing her words, his face turned green. "Shut up, why is your mouth so mean, you girl? You must have been a woodpecker in your past life."

The older woman releasing the life laughed and joined in the fun with the young girl. "The girl isn't wrong. It's the Six Paths of Reincarnation; who can say clearly what happened in past or present lives? You look at it as a snake now and despise it, but in the next life, it might be a beautiful woman who marries you and spends every day at home complaining that you don't earn enough money. Wouldn't that be your retribution?"

Luo Qi shivered, his face looking hopeless, and he shouted with a tone of accusation, "Auntie!"

Guan Xinyue covered her face, nearly laughing herself into a fit.

Du Zhengyi was also listening to them talk with interest, gradually beginning to understand the path of cause and effect and reincarnation they spoke of. He pondered for a moment and asked the most practical question. "The temperature is so low now, and the snow hasn't melted yet. Can the released snakes survive?"

"How could they not survive?" the older woman said without a moment's hesitation, and she even glared at him. "Once released into the mountains, they will find a warm place to burrow into the soil to hibernate. Snakes all hibernate, you know that, right? Don't look at the mountains covered in snow; the soil under the snow is very warm. You've seen frogs, right? Don't they also rely on hibernation to survive the winter? If such small frogs can endure the harsh winter, how could snakes, which are so spiritual, not be able to?"

Du Zhengyi laughed upon hearing this. "That is indeed the logic. I've learned something new today. Did you come here specifically to release life because you heard this temple is the most efficacious? I also want to accumulate some merit and make a wish in this temple; I wonder if I should also release life first?"

Luo Qi glanced at him, secretly thinking that he had been worried for nothing; he hadn't expected Du Zhengyi to have no obstacles in interacting with the crowd. Thinking this, he looked at Guan Xinyue again. That woodpecker girl was indeed sharp; she wasn't interrupting now, and with her head lowered in a half-smile, she looked quite obedient, though one didn't need to guess to know she was listening with full attention.

The older woman had dedicated her heart to the great cause of releasing life and had no extra mind to discover their complicated inner thoughts. Hearing that a few young people were interested in the Buddha, she immediately became as enthusiastic as a burning coal. "So you aren't here on a self-driving tour and just happened upon this place? You came specifically for this Jingtu Temple?"

"Yes," Du Zhengyi replied. He was slightly older, and his speech in front of others was steady; the older woman's attitude toward him was indeed much more serious than toward Luo Qi. He pointed at Guan Xinyue. "This is the granddaughter of our old neighbor. Her ancestral home is in this village, and she mentioned to us a while ago that the temple here is particularly efficacious. We happened to have something on our minds, and since it was the weekend, I brought my younger brother here to look around."

"Oh, that's no wonder," the older woman nodded. "I'm actually from out of town; I only knew about this place after hearing it from my senior fellow apprentice. Oh, let me tell you, although this temple is small, it is actually no worse than the ancient temples of Lingshan."

Luo Qi laughed when he heard this. "Does that mean I can still be saved? I'm going to go write a wish on the wall inside right now—let's go with 'pass every exam'!"

Du Zhengyi looked at him. "You're still dwelling on that trivial matter? Auntie, look at my brother, he's so simple-minded, isn't he quite cute?"

Luo Qi was startled; this bastard was actually acting cute!

The older woman also looked at Luo Qi and smiled, her eyes as if looking at her own child. "Young man, writing that wish on the wall won't help."

"Ah?" Luo Qi thought she was teasing him on purpose. "Why?"

The older woman smiled, but her pious and kind face revealed a trace of eeriness. She lowered her voice mysteriously and said, "Because the wishes on that wall are all written for people to fulfill."

"What?" Luo Qi exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"Is it because releasing life accumulates merit, and helping others accumulates even more merit?" Du Zhengyi suddenly said.

"Oh my," the older woman sighed. "You child truly have wisdom. That is exactly the logic. If you really get down to it, releasing life is only a small achievement; helping others is the foundation of merit."

Luo Qi shot him a look. He didn't believe Du Zhengyi had any wisdom; it was only because he knew absolutely nothing about Buddhism that he could speak so presumptuously. Based on the little bit Luo Qi knew, since Buddhism emphasized the equality of all living beings and the Six Paths of Reincarnation, it wouldn't rank helping others higher than releasing life.

Perhaps anyone who believes in something will spare no effort to proselytize, and encountering someone like Luo Qi who seemed particularly unteachable only further ignited the older woman's fighting spirit. She vividly imparted the teachings of her master to the three juniors.

It turned out that the wishes written on the temple walls were all for others to see, and the color of the Buddhist beads tied to the wish slips indicated the magnitude of the wish. The largest and most difficult wishes were at the top, strung with Sandalwood Buddhist Beads, while the wishes in the bottom row were the smallest, strung with Ivory White Buddhist Beads. Those who wanted to do good and accumulate merit could come here to pick and read them at will. If they encountered a wish they had the affinity to fulfill, they would take the bead string and return it to the master after performing the good deed. The masters in the temple would know how much merit each person had performed by the color of the beads and would record the depth of each devotee's blessings in the temple's general ledger.

People who first came to the temple had to copy scriptures to calm their minds before they were qualified to receive a string of the lightest-colored beads. Then came the process of accumulating good affinities, where one could first choose wishes on the wall that were within their power to fulfill. If one was truly weak and incapable of completing others' tasks, one could choose to release life. But saving birds and beasts was certainly not as fast as saving people in accumulating good karma. In any case, the more good deeds one performed, the thicker the blessings accumulated, and the larger the wishes one could make on the wall.

"That is indeed a good way to teach people to be kind," Du Zhengyi said nonchalantly.

"Isn't it? The masters in this temple explain the Buddhist scriptures the most clearly. I have followed other masters before, but they could neither explain it as clearly as here, nor were they as compassionate as the masters here," the older woman said with emotion.

Guan Xinyue couldn't hold back. "Is that what saving people means? Then what if someone makes a wish that is harmful to others?"

"Amitabha," the older woman immediately chanted, eyeing the young girl. "In front of the Buddha, who would dare to make a wish that is harmful to others? Do they not want their lives anymore?"

Luo Qi clapped his hands with a grin, interrupting. "Auntie, just tell me straight: if I want to pass every exam, what exactly should I do? My wish is much bigger than those wishes on the wall for mobile phones or celebrity autographs."

The older woman's expression became much more cheerful when she looked at him; his personality wasn't intense, his temper was good, and he was easygoing, making him well-liked by elders everywhere. "If your wish and merit are so great that the wall can't even hold them, then you have a chance to see the Master. A wealthy merchant once did just that; as soon as he arrived, he fulfilled all the wishes on the wall that could be achieved with money, and in one go, he accumulated the qualifications to see the Master."

Luo Qi laughed out loud. "This confirms another truth: any wish that can be solved with money is not a wish at all."

"Then what wish did he actually have?" Guan Xinyue asked.

The older woman thought for a moment. "I heard it was to treat his insomnia."

Luo Qi laughed heartily, and just as he was about to say something, he was slapped by Du Zhengyi and driven back.

By this time, the cargo from the other cars had been unloaded one after another. Several young monks came to organize everyone to go to the back mountain to release the life, and the older woman hurried over as well. Ever since Luo Qi heard that the woven bags contained snakes, he refused to touch them again no matter what. The older woman didn't force him and went into the mountains with a few younger believers, helping each other.

Du Zhengyi watched their backs and subconsciously shook his head.

"Don't worry," Luo Qi was rubbing his hands desperately against his pants, as if he could wipe away the sensation of having touched the snakes. "Those snakes won't survive the winter here; even if there are venomous snakes, they won't bite the villagers."

"How do you know?" Du Zhengyi asked with a frown.

"There's a shipping label on the woven bag; it was mailed from Guangzhou," Luo Qi said, rubbing his hands hard again. "They are really something, specifically buying snakes from the subtropics to throw into this ice and snow, and they call it releasing life? That bag of snakes is probably cursing them."

"Sometimes you are quite smart," Guan Xinyue smiled. "Are you really that afraid of snakes?"

"Ha—ha—" Luo Qi gave a dry laugh, then turned back and urged Du Zhengyi with a lively expression, "Let's go, let's go copy scriptures!"

"We're really going to copy them?" Guan Xinyue was a bit confused. "Then when will we finish copying?"

"What are you in such a rush for?" Luo Qi said. "After copying the scriptures, we still have to accumulate merit. Or what do you suggest? If you have a plan, show us the way. If you have other clues, provide them quickly, and we won't waste time here."

Guan Xinyue had no choice; seeing that Du Zhengyi didn't object, she had to follow along resentfully.

Two monks in the back hall of the small temple received them. After asking their intentions, they didn't say much, led them to a side hall, offered paper and pens, and left. It was as if they were accustomed to all kinds of incense-offering guests, as there were indeed many people coming and going. The two monks were both young and taciturn; if one had to talk to them, they were very clumsy at responding, spending a long time talking without saying anything, and often giving answers that had nothing to do with the questions.

So after chatting with them for a few sentences, Luo Qi knew it was useless and helplessly lamented that the little monks in this temple were truly simple and dull. Of course, it might also be as Guan Xinyue pointed out—"They're just low in IQ; the threshold for this temple is really low."

The task of copying scriptures wasn't too heavy. The Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra was rolled into a scroll after being copied several times, and it had a red-traced base, so Guan Xinyue could also use a brush, though she wrote slowly. Du Zhengyi had the foundation of a standard Mage; he used the brush no differently than a fountain pen. Although he sighed when he picked up the brush, it didn't hinder his writing, which flowed like dragons and snakes, and he almost didn't need to follow the red tracing underneath.

Luo Qi glanced at Du Zhengyi's writing speed, then put down his brush and walked around the room impatiently, touching this and poking that. Guan Xinyue despised his lazy behavior and kept emphasizing the need to share the work fairly and justly. But Du Zhengyi had always had a high tolerance for Luo Qi and didn't pay much attention to these things. Seeing that the great god remained focused on copying the scriptures, Luo Qi no longer cared about Guan Xinyue's nagging and walked out to stroll around. He returned half a quarter of an hour later, sat down opposite Guan Xinyue, and took out a bag of potato chips to eat.

Guan Xinyue was provoked to the point of being like a cat with its back arched, but Luo Qi's skin was too thick; she already knew that scolding him wouldn't bring her any pleasure, so she turned to confront Du Zhengyi. "Can you manage him? What exactly is your relationship? Your assistant? Classmate? Is he really your brother? Can anyone manage him?"

Du Zhengyi lazily raised his eyelids and looked at Luo Qi. Luo Qi was staring at him with wide eyes, testing him, with a thick-cut potato chip hanging from his mouth.

"Him? He is my mascot. Don't provoke him; if he becomes unlucky, he can't be used."

"What does that mean?" Guan Xinyue asked, annoyed and lowering her voice.

"It's something like a pet," Du Zhengyi said, lowering his head to continue busy copying scriptures, "I only just adopted him into my hands, and we are still in the adjustment period, so it's useless for you to snap at me; it will still take some days to domesticate him."

Guan Xinyue blinked her eyes, a bit speechless. Luo Qi had already become numb to this way of speaking from Du Zhengyi, so he looked very indifferent, appearing especially shameless, which only fanned more of Guan Xinyue's annoyance for nothing. Luo Qi even handed her a bar of chocolate, "Eat some sweets. Is your period here? Why are you so restless and irritable?"

Guan Xinyue took a deep breath, looking as if she were about to breathe fire.

Only then did Du Zhengyi interject to smooth things over, asking Luo Qi, "You went out and made a round; besides food, did you have any other gains?"

Luo Qi crunched the potato chip he was holding in his mouth, "When you came, did you bring money?"