Chapter 150: Golden Toad Fishes for Money

That giant salamander was about the size of a crocodile, but while a crocodile looks fierce, this thing just looked silly; a crocodile has tough, armored skin, while this giant salamander just had a layer of sticky mucus, and I didn't see any particularly fierce teeth in its mouth.

Xu Jia saw the changes on its body; it was the copper coin spots causing trouble. These copper coin spots were the manifestation of wealth-greed, covering its eyes and affecting its heart. Otherwise, a giant salamander is a very docile animal and couldn't possibly have flown into a rage and revealed its true form like this.

"You actually dared to smash my Merit Jar! That was money I was saving to cast a Golden Body for the Buddha and build a temple. Your crime is unforgivable; you shall go to the Eighteen Levels of Hell!"

Xu Mu and a crowd of maids and matrons heard the commotion and came over one after another. Seeing such a large giant salamander, they didn't find it frightening, but just asked curiously, "What kind of thing have you brought home again?"

Xu Jia said, "Mother, this is a Buddhist monster that came to our house to beg for alms. Quickly, recite the Guanyin Heart Sutra and tell him some principles about how 'form is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from form'."

Xu Mu had long believed in Buddhism and recited the Guanyin Heart Sutra, but she had lacked the proper method. Later, after Xu Jia taught her the convenient dharma of the Pure Land Sect, she tidied up all her previous Buddhist causes and affinities. The Guanyin Bodhisattva statue in the Buddha hall had even developed a spiritual light from her recitations, indicating that Guanyin Bodhisattva acknowledged this Daochang and had cast a thought into it.

If viewed from the Dharma Realm, the Xu Family Buddha Hall was a Guanyin Bodhimanda. Guanyin Bodhisattva recited the Heart Sutra within it—though this Guanyin Bodhisattva was not a projection of the statue, but a projection of Xu Mu. Since she had previously said that reciting the Buddha is reciting oneself, and she was now reciting the Guanyin Heart Sutra, she was, in a certain Buddhist causal sense, the incarnation of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Xu Jia borrowed the "Eye-Void Sun" immobilization technique from Kan Yinwu and the Infatuation Technique from Hu Jinhua to immobilize the giant salamander.

Hearing Xu Jia say that this monster believed in Buddhism and wanted to beg for alms for a Golden Body, Xu Mu shook her head and immediately began to recite the sutra.

She recited clearly, word by word. After reciting it seven times, she held a bead, and this bead produced a faint Buddhist light in the Dharma Realm.

It is said that back in the day, Fa Hai also had such a string of beads, which almost beat Bai Suzhen until her soul flew away and scattered; it was only by relying on the Thousand-Year Iron Tree Blossoming that she was saved.

As Xu Mu recited the mantra, the giant salamander began to struggle in confusion.

Xu Jia trotted into the Ming Tang and pointed at the main beam: "Golden Toad, Golden Toad, manifest your spirit quickly!"

The golden-carved Golden Toad came to life. The last time it was refined in a blazing fire, it had been imbued with spirituality and became a "creature-monster." Usually, it remained an immobile statue, waiting for its spirituality to grow enough so it could come to life.

At this moment, hearing Xu Jia's command, it jumped down and landed in Xu Jia's hand. Xu Jia said, "I took the money from your mouth before and promised to exchange it for gold coins, and to have you carry two more strings on your back. Today, that promise is fulfilled."

"Croak, croak!" The Golden Toad became happy: "You finally remembered!"

Before, when Xu Jia brought gold back to act as a wealth-suppressing beast, this Golden Toad had been happy to death, thinking Xu Jia had fulfilled his promise, only to find that Xu Jia hadn't paid it any attention at all.

It had been anxious and spinning in circles, but it still held its post.

Today, it had finally looked forward to the stars and the moon and waited for Xu Jia.

Xu Jia took a cotton thread and tied the Golden Toad's hind leg, winding the other end around the Coiled Dragon Wood Pole that the wood spirit had previously offered, using it as a fishing rod.

When he went back outside, the maids and servants were drawing water from the well. It turned out that after the giant salamander revealed its true form, its body had become a bit dry, and they were splashing water on it.

Xu Mu's recitation of the mantra was effective; the giant salamander had already calmed down. Xu Jia cast the rod, and the Golden Toad struck the giant salamander's forehead. Seeing the copper coin spot, the Golden Toad snapped at it, and the next moment it plucked the copper coin spot off the forehead, turning it into a real copper coin. Xu Jia took the copper coin and put it back into the Treasure Basin.

Because the Five-Route God of Wealth Talisman had sealed the evil wealth, and this copper coin was also something that had originally come out of the Treasure Basin, it disappeared the moment it fell into the basin.

The giant salamander was hurt by the Golden Toad's strike, but by now it had regained some reason. Moreover, its nature was docile, it was a student of Buddhism, and it hadn't been infected by the Treasure Basin's money-poison for long. It only made humming sounds and did not struggle, clearly knowing that Xu Jia was doing it a favor.

Xu Jia was using the "Liu Hai Fishes for the Golden Toad" method. The casting motion he had just used was the "Fishing Toad Force," a type of force from the path of the Inner Elixir, only now it was being used in reverse to fish for money.

After casting about a hundred times, hitting exactly where he aimed, he finally removed the copper coin spots, though many places were left red and swollen.

The giant salamander began to retch, spitting out the pearls and gold sand it had stored in its mouth.

Xu Jia put them back into the Treasure Basin, and sure enough, they disappeared. Along with them, some of the giant salamander's blood, flesh, and essence were also reclaimed.

The giant salamander fidgeted for a while before transforming into a human shape. It was still a bald monk, but its eyes were set very wide apart, looking like someone with Down syndrome, and its face was pale. It bowed to Xu Jia: "Many thanks to the benefactor for saving this little monk."

If it had continued to demand more money from the common people, or even cast a Golden Body and built a temple, the money-poison would have entered its bone marrow. All its Buddhist dharma would have dissolved, and it would have become a demonic monk who only cared about money. The amount of money donated would have been the amount of merit, and those many years of pure, bitter cultivation would have finally turned into a bubble.

"There is no need to thank me; we just happened to meet. Besides, this calamity of yours is related to me. If I had ruined your cultivation for no reason, it would have been your calamity and my karma."

"But now it is your merit! And the merit of the old lady as well. The Heart Sutra the old lady recited fell like sweet dew onto parched earth, relieving the anxiety in my heart."

It bowed again, respectfully saluting Xu Jia, Xu Mu, and even the Xu family staff who had just poured water on it.

"This little monk's dharma name is Jingchi. Two hundred years ago, the divine monk Mingzan built a hut here and practiced the Flower Adornment Sutra daily. The sound of the sutras cleansed the valley, and all the land turned into a solemn Pure Land. The Di Gou Quan was originally just an ordinary stream, and because of this, it was transformed into a Pure Spring. This little monk received the dharma in the spring and has been contemplating the Avatamsaka ever since, but I remained at the surface. Today, I was actually bewitched by evil wealth, fell into the obstacle of ignorance and calamity, and wanted to turn the Di Gou Quan into the Babao Gongde Chi."

Hearing this, Xu Jia praised: "To be able to guard your original heart for two hundred years is already quite remarkable. Having passed this calamity and obstacle, you will be even purer in the future."

"Indeed. If one possesses the eight treasures, where is not the Babao Gongde Chi? I practiced diligently, originally wanting to use the Babao Gongde Chi to transform into a dragon."

"Buddhism transforming into a dragon? No wonder you became entangled in this calamity."

The Treasure Basin in Xu Jia's hand was also an instrument of the Wealth God Authority of the Buddhist school, and it was related to the Dragon Kings of the Buddhist school, but it had been tainted by the demonic path from within. It was unclear which demon king had cast the spell and cursed it.

The giant salamander looked at the Treasure Basin: "No wonder. The Di Gou Quan was recently polluted; the spring water turned from sweet to bitter, and from a Pure Spring to a Tanquan. It was all bewitched by this object."

(End of chapter)