Chapter 262: Age of Dharma Decline (Part 1)

"You go back to the village first, don't run around." Little Wei Yuan instructed the young girl.

"And you?"

"I'm going up the mountain to take a look, and I'll be back immediately."

The young girl said poutingly, "You just think I'm a burden!"

Little Wei Yuan didn't speak, essentially agreeing. But the young girl's stubborn personality flared up, and she refused to leave no matter what. Little Wei Yuan, helpless, untied the rope hanging behind his waist and walked toward the young girl.

"What are you doing?!" The young girl exclaimed halfway, then covered her mouth herself.

Little Wei Yuan acted without hesitation, firmly binding and tightening the burden on her chest, saying, "This will do. We have to run faster; we need to get back before breakfast."

The two ran along the mountain path toward the back mountain. This time, it was indeed much smoother. Along the way, there were many traps set by the hunter uncle, but fortunately, they all had eye-catching markers, so the two didn't step into them.

"What are you going to the back mountain for?" The young girl asked, out of breath.

"It's high there; I'm looking at the surrounding terrain."

"Haven't we been looking at it for over ten years? What's there to look at?"

Little Wei Yuan knew he had been looking at it for over ten years and should be quite familiar with the surroundings of the village. But for some reason, he just didn't feel at ease and had to see it for himself. In the past, before every major battle, he had to personally survey the terrain.

A major battle? Little Wei Yuan felt that should be a part of him since birth, although there had never been a war in the village.

Along the way, Little Wei Yuan ignored the young girl's struggles and protests; since she followed, she had to go all the way. If the young girl played the rascal and wouldn't walk, Little Wei Yuan simply carried her. After carrying her for a while and finding it inconvenient, he simply hoisted her onto his shoulder, and finally, he could stride and sprint.

The young girl was furious and kept twisting and struggling. Little Wei Yuan immediately lost patience and slapped her butt heavily, which immediately made her quiet down.

Now Little Wei Yuan was single-minded; he just wanted to see the terrain. He felt his mind was inexplicably simple, a simple farm boy, just like before he was three years old.

Without the young girl's burden, Little Wei Yuan's movements were much faster, and he sprinted all the way to the top of the back mountain.

The summit was a piece of rock, relatively flat. From here, one could see the mountain peak on the other side; the distance between the two peaks was no more than several dozen zhang, close enough that one could jump over in a single leap.

However, right in front of Little Wei Yuan's feet was a cliff. He leaned over and looked down; it was bottomless, and the bottom of the cliff was filled with mist, unable to see what was underneath.

The sun had completely risen into the sky. It was very large and dark red in color, painting the entire world with the colors of a residual sunset. The mountain peaks were all dyed red, but those corners between the mountains that the sunlight couldn't reach were pitch black, unable to see clearly what was there.

Standing on the summit, one could clearly see the village. The small village was not large, built on the hillside, and on the other side was a plain where some fields had been opened up. Further away was a forest, from which heavy mists rose, unable to see further.

Little Wei Yuan estimated the distance. Standing at a high place, and with good weather, he could only see out for a hundred miles; beyond a hundred miles, it was all mist, unable to know what was behind it.

At this moment, cooking smoke rose everywhere in the small village.

"We should go back; if we miss breakfast, we'll be scolded," the young girl said.

"Alright." Little Wei Yuan was just about to go down the mountain when he suddenly saw a huge door appear in the sky above his head!

That door was entirely black, with mysterious symbols on it, so large it connected the ground to the sky. At this moment, the gate was tightly closed, unable to see what was behind it.

Little Wei Yuan was greatly shocked, pointed at the gate, and asked, "There is a door in the sky there, do you see it?"

The young girl looked in the direction he pointed and then said, "The Dharma master said that is the door leading to the Pure Land Spirit Mountain. As long as one pays respects to the Buddha with piety, everyone can see it. It's just that today, this door has changed color, and it has even closed."

"What does it usually look like?" Little Wei Yuan asked.

The young girl said somewhat strangely, "Could it be that you couldn't see it before? No wonder the Dharma master always says that some people in the village are not pious enough and cannot listen to the Buddha Dharma; so it turns out he was talking about you!" However, the young girl didn't reveal Little Wei Yuan's thoughts and said, "That door used to be golden and was always open, with seven-colored glaze light inside. Remember, don't let it slip when the Dharma master asks."

"The Dharma master is the most compassionate and will not punish me." Little Wei Yuan didn't know why he would say such a thing.

"But the village chief will. He hits people very painfully."

The two went down the mountain and returned to the village, each going home. When Little Wei Yuan entered the house, his foster father had already finished eating and left breakfast on the table. Breakfast was porridge, half a steamed bun, and a piece of salted vegetable. This was considered sumptuous; his foster father probably only drank a bowl of thin porridge.

His foster father said, "Eat quickly; after eating, we still have to go to the fields to work."

Little Wei Yuan cleaned up the food in three or four bites, but to be honest, he felt he hadn't even filled one-tenth of his stomach. A rare sense of hunger filled his body, making him subconsciously look at a piece of cured meat hanging on the kitchen beam.

His foster father hit Little Wei Yuan's head hard and said, "What are you thinking about? That is meat to be offered to the Buddha; how dare you even think about it?"

Only then did Little Wei Yuan remember that in the past, most of the good things in the village, such as cured meat, eggs, etc., would be offered to the temple to pray for the Buddha's protection; the more one offered, the more pious one was. All offerings only went in and never came out, as if the Buddha really would eat them.

It wasn't until he grew up that one day the young girl quietly told Little Wei Yuan that she saw the Dharma master eating the offerings.

But this matter had no proof, and the Dharma master had always treated everyone very well, so the then-dazed Little Wei Yuan quickly forgot about it.

!.

Just after finishing breakfast, a noisy sound suddenly came from outside the house. An auntie pulled her voice with a crying tone and called out, "Why is the door to the Pure Land closed? Who on earth committed such a sin?!"

Hearing this, his foster father ran to the window and looked, his face changing immediately.

More and more people in the village gathered, all looking toward the sky. That gate, that smear of glaze light, was the motivation for everyone to pay respects to the Buddha, and it was also everyone's hope. Originally, the blessings of the next life were right in front of their eyes, but it had suddenly closed.

"Let's go to the temple and ask the Dharma master," someone suggested, and many people echoed.

So, the entire village gathered outside the small temple.

The young Dharma master walked out of the temple and looked at the gathered crowd. For some reason, Little Wei Yuan saw a strange compassion on his face, and at the same time, a kind of determination. At this moment, light faintly rose from the Dharma master's body, like a high monk who had attained the true fruit.

At this moment, the light in the temple became somewhat dazzling. Little Wei Yuan looked up and saw that the golden light in the sky was approaching rapidly. He felt a faint sense of unease in his heart.

The Dharma master sighed and said, "Clearly there is enough to fill one's stomach, why give rise to greed again and recklessly break the commandment against killing?"

Little Wei Yuan looked in the direction of the Dharma master's gaze and saw the hunter uncle, only the uncle was still carrying the hunting fork, and the white wolf was still hanging on the hunting fork, still dripping blood.

Little Wei Yuan was not surprised; in the past, when Uncle Sankui caught rare prey, he would also get lost and walk back and forth in the village until noon before finding where his home was.

Seeing the Dharma master looking at him, Sankui didn't care at all. He threw the white wolf on the open space in front of the temple and said righteously, "This beast injured several people and many livestock in the village. If I don't kill it, should I let it continue to harm the village?"

With two thuds, he threw down a badger and a fat rabbit, saying, "These two are the ones that want to eat meat. Since the Dharma master feels I am wrong, then offer them up. But I am not wrong!"

Sankui said the last sentence with resounding force.

The Dharma master chanted a Buddha name and sighed, "You are not wrong, and I am not wrong, none of us are wrong..."

The Dharma master's words were suddenly interrupted by a thunderclap, and a roar that shook the heavens and earth sounded from the clouds: "Who killed our Great King's only son?"

Under the blood-colored sunlight, the three corpses in the open space of the temple suddenly turned into people.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 263 =====