Chapter 28

After the gate slowly opened, a waft of sandalwood fragrance came rushing toward him.

Niu Dingtian lifted his foot and entered; behind him, Kong Hui followed step for step, never leaving his side.

Looking around, layers of scripture shelves were neatly arranged, and the surrounding atmosphere was extremely solemn.

Continuing inward, the layered pavilions let a sacred aura seep out, layer by layer.

Inside the building, curling incense smoke rose, filling the entire hall; the deepest Buddha statue, solemn and majestic, stood upon a lotus, giving at a glance a feeling of transcendence beyond the mundane.

Niu Dingtian stepped forward, slowly approaching the stairwell; Kong Hui beside him had not yet stopped him when he suddenly halted his steps.

No! Someone's there!

Immediately, his alertness rose to the utmost.

Someone is on the second floor! After a brief pause, he became even more certain.

"Benefactor Niu!"

"Entry to the second floor of the Sutra Pavilion is strictly forbidden!"

Seeing Niu Dingtian halt at the stairwell, Kong Hui could not help but speak up to remind him.

Seeing Kong Hui nervously follow close behind, never leaving his side, Niu Dingtian couldn't help but speak with a smile:

"Master Kong Hui, rest assured; trouble Master Kong Hui to fetch some brush and ink—I'll just look for some scriptures on the first floor to copy, and I won't go to the second floor."

"Please wait a moment, Benefactor Niu!"

After hearing the assurance, Kong Hui relaxed a little, his honest face breaking into a smile; after clasping his hands in salute, he walked over to the wooden cabinet by the wall.

Opening the drawer, he took out a thick stack of hemp paper, a brush, an inkstone, and then scooped a bowl of water from the large ceramic vat nearby.

Arriving at the table, Kong Hui swiftly laid out the paper, ground the ink, then walked to Niu Dingtian's side and said with clasped hands:

"Benefactor Niu, the monk has prepared the brush and ink; we may begin."

"Thank you, Master Kong Hui."

Niu Dingtian thanked Kong Hui with a clasped-hand salute, then strolled over to the scripture shelves and casually began selecting scriptures.

"Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sutra"

"Heart of the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sutra"

"Heart of the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sutra"

"Great Flower Garland Sutra"

"Lotus Sutra."

After scanning them one by one, Niu Dingtian finally settled on the "Great Buddha's Top Tathāgata's Secret Cause for Certification and Meaning, All Practices of the Bodhisattvas, Śūraṅgama Sutra"; this scripture also bore the character "Leng", which seemed fated. He reached out, took it, walked to the desk, and began to copy it silently.

When he was about halfway through copying, Niu Dingtian seemed to think of something, paused his pen, tilted his head, looked at Kong Hui who was intently watching him, and said with a smile:

"Master Kong Hui, you need not be so tense; if you worry that I might mistakenly enter the second floor, why not stand guard at the stairwell? Moreover,"

"Moreover, Master Kong Hui standing constantly at my side also somewhat distracts me from focusing on my copying."

At the end of his words, Niu Dingtian's gentle face also showed a hint of apology.

Hearing this, Kong Hui's eyes flashed with joy; "Exactly! Guarding the stairwell would do!", he gave a simple smile and thanked Niu Dingtian with clasped hands:

"Thank you for the reminder, Benefactor Niu; I'll go wait over there and will not disturb you again. If you have any further needs, just call for me."

After saying that, he performed a salute and then withdrew to the stairwell.

Seeing Kong Hui leave, Niu Dingtian's smiling face grew even brighter; he gathered his thoughts and continued copying the remainder of the "Great Buddha's Top Tathāgata's Secret Cause for Certification and Meaning, All Practices of the Bodhisattvas, Śūraṅgama Sutra".

This scripture is abbreviated as the "Śūraṅgama Sutra", also known as the "First Śūraṅgama Sutra", "Great Buddha's Top Sutra", "Great Buddha's Top First Śūraṅgama Sutra", and "The Great Pathfield of Central India Nālandā"; it is also an extremely important Buddhist scripture.

In the "Sutra of the End of the Dharma", it is said: in the degenerate age, the Śūraṅgama Sutra will perish first. The Śūraṅgama Sutra includes: the preface, three rounds of breaking consciousness, ten rounds of revealing truth, separating falsehood to reveal truth, unifying the four teachings, perfectly elucidating the seven great, examining and eliminating subtle doubts, solving from the root, the twenty-five saints' perfect penetration chapter, four kinds of pure and clear teachings, the Śūraṅgama mantra, twelve kinds of beings, historical verification, the seven realms, and the fifty demonic influences.

Although Niu Dingtian had never studied Buddhist scriptures and had little interest, while copying this sutra his mind gradually grew calmer, and he faintly felt he had gained something.

Therefore, although he harbored an ulterior motive, he did not neglect the copying; before long, the scripture in his hands was finished copying.

Next, he again went to the shelves, searching, selecting, copying, then searching again, determined to find that book!

Outside, the sky was already growing dark; at that moment, his desk already held four copied scriptures.

He was not in a hurry, merely leisurely seeking the next shelf to copy the next scripture.

After he closed the "Buddha Speaks of Amitābha Sutra" in his hand, he once again approached the shelves, leisurely searching, while his mind continually pondered.

He was not only interested in the Nine Yang True Scripture on this floor, but even more so in the Seventy-two Supreme Techniques upstairs.

Now that he possesses the Arhat Subduing Demon Skill, this divine art practiced by that dog brother is not inferior to the Nine Yang True Scripture, and may even be slightly superior; lacking the Nine Yang True Scripture is not unacceptable.

However, he has long coveted the Shaolin Seventy-two Supreme Techniques upstairs; he had long wanted to pick a few to bring back for his subordinates to practice. These techniques are mostly external training arts with low entry barriers. If practiced to depth, their power is quite formidable, which is extremely important for the development of his next plan.

Therefore, he must enter the second floor of the Sutra Pavilion! But how? Should he break in directly, or plot slowly? Coming back later would inevitably require forcing the door, and by then wouldn't he have to gather a few old monks together?

Hiss—

Niu Dingtian was extremely torn.

As he thought, his right hand suddenly touched a scripture; he lifted his eyes to see the title, his eyes instantly brightening, and he hastily suppressed his inner excitement, slowly pulling out the scripture.

Opening it, the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra was entirely in Sanskrit. Niu Dingtian felt page by page for the seams inside the scripture; halfway through, he indeed found a thick protrusion.

In his previous life, there were many theories about this Nine Yang True Scripture.

One says it was traditionally written by Patriarch Bodhidharma.

But later Zhang Junbao realized that Patriarch Bodhidharma was an Indian; even if he could write Chinese characters, his literary skill would necessarily be crude.

Yet the wording in the Nine Yang True Scripture is exquisite; a foreigner could never produce it, so it must have been composed by later Central Plains people.

Most likely it was the monks of Shaolin Temple, who, under the name of Patriarch Bodhidharma, wrote it in the interstices of the Sanskrit Laṅkāvatāra Sutra.

Another theory says that in Mount Song, an unnamed strange warrior won a drinking contest against Wang Chongyang and thus earned the right to peruse the Nine Yin Classic; this person was the Drunken Divine Monk.

One day, after drinking with Wang Chongyang and defeating him, Wang Chongyang lent the Nine Yin Classic to the Drunken Divine Monk to read.

The Drunken Divine Monk thought the Nine Yin Classic had too much yin energy, solely exalting the Daoist Huang-Lao school, emphasizing only overcoming hardness with softness, letting yin overcome yang, and missing the marvel of yin and yang mutually aiding each other.

Thus he joined Shaolin, and in the seams of the four volumes of the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra, he wrote in Chinese his own creation, the Nine Yang True Scripture, combining his insights from martial arts and Chan Buddhism.

The drunken monk felt that, compared to the Nine Yin Classic, it had a more harmonious balance of yin and yang, a blending of hardness and softness—a moderate way.

The drunken divine monk who wrote the Nine Yang True Scripture was a Daoist before turning to Buddhism, versed in the Daoist Canon; the martial work he authored gave equal weight to hardness and softness, balanced yin and yang, adapted to circumstances and struck after the opponent—quite unlike the Shaolin sect's traditional martial arts, which emphasize yang hardness, and also unlike the pure Daoist Nine Yin Classic's emphasis on yin softness.

Thus it naturally appeared in the Scripture Pavilion of the Shaolin Temple.

No matter what, this volume of scripture is now in hand, but right now there's also no time to copy the Nine Yin Classic hidden in the creases.

If the Shaolin Temple hadn't changed its mind at the last minute and played him for a fool, he wouldn't mind taking his time to obtain it tomorrow; that was originally his plan as well.

How to get into this always-locked Scripture Pavilion? Steal the keys? Pah! That Jue Zhen probably always keeps the keys in his pocket! Tomorrow, breaking in will inevitably involve smashing doors and windows, and it's hard to avoid being noticed.

Han Xiao Ying's palm poison has been neutralized; now she's entered openly—first, grab someone and then talk! Turning back, Jue Zhen and Jue Xing are nothing she can't easily handle!

No more waiting!

He then put away the scripture, unleashed his footwork, and rushed full force up to the second floor.

Sorry for the typos and garbled sentences—thanks for the reminder. Over the past couple of days, with many holiday matters, updates have been rushed, so the wording might have errors; please feel free to point them out, and we'll correct them actively.

(End of chapter)