Chapter 717: This Humble Monk Shall Deliver You!

At this moment, Yang Jiye could not have imagined that Pan Mei's impromptu suggestion to strike the Yedugua tribe first — this reckless maneuver — would make his adoptive father the Emperor suspect he had taken the wrong path.

And Sage Zhang, to boost morale and dispel the exhaustion and dejection brought on by the long, grueling march, had no choice but to deploy his ultimate technique: loving his soldiers as his own sons.

After all, of the twenty-thousand-plus infantry and cavalry that I, Sage Zhang, am leading, conscripted irregulars make up the overwhelming majority.

If morale is not maintained, relying solely on military law and officers who were just hastily promoted could never possibly keep things under control.

But although this caused Sage Zhang no small amount of trouble, Yang Jiye was thoroughly enjoying himself!

With just over seven hundred cavalry, in less than half a watch, he charged straight into the Yedugua tribe's ordu and directly dealt a severe wound to the Yedugua chieftain, Buniegu.

And after cutting down the Yedugua tribe's great banner, Yang Jiye, again following Pan Mei's advice, directly raised the banner of the Six Dharma Sect, downplaying their identity as Tang cavalry.

Besides, am I not Yang Wudi, the adopted son of Sage Zhang of the Supreme Heaven? If Li Cunhui, Third Brother Li, could use this identity to swindle and bluff his way around Songpan Prefecture on the Qingtang Plateau, and even bed young women for free, then why can't he, Yang Qilang, do the same?

And so, Yang Jiye, draped in that silver-white cloak with the golden swastika, then changed into a monk's robe, and flanked by two Six Dharma Sect teaching monks and two warrior monks acting as guides, appeared directly before the eyes of the Yedugua tribe's herders.

This move was extremely bold, and very much in keeping with Yang Jiye's temperament.

In history, the elder Lord Yang was cautious and prudent, but that was because he was a military strongman who had surrendered from the Northern Han, and was never accepted by the Bianliang military establishment that formed the backbone of the Zhao Song dynasty.

Only Zhao the Second, for the purpose of balancing the military men left behind by his elder brother, treated him well. But that only made Yang Jiye more ostracized, so he had no choice but to be extremely cautious.

But in this time and space, our Lord Yang is called Yang Qilang, because he ranks seventh among Sage Zhang's adopted sons.

He was raised in the palace by Zhang Zhao from the age of nine, eating and living together with the princes and princesses of the Zhang Zhou imperial house, just like real siblings.

His father, Yang Hongxin, is a military governor holding a frontier command, with high rank and great power. His wife's family is a pillar of the northwest. With such prestige, how could he possibly remain cautious and timid?

And this proud, haughty bearing, combined with the identity of Supreme Heaven adopted son that he had proclaimed, quickly intimidated a great number of the Yedugua tribe's herders.

For one must understand that in the Six Dharma Sect's narrative, Zhang Zhao's seven adopted sons were all originally guardian deities — jiālán — of the Buddhist Pure Land, who descended to the mortal world together to protect the Supreme Heaven, and once their mission was complete, they could return to the Pure Land, their souls resuming their seats.

The entire Yedugua tribe numbered roughly ten-thousand-plus tents and over seventy thousand people, of which more than six thousand tents — nearly fifty thousand people — were spread out along the Yanran Mountains, stretching for over thirty li.

Yang Jiye had only raided the ordu of the Yedugua chieftain Buniegu; he had not captured everyone, nor could his seven hundred cavalry possibly round up so many people, so the situation remained very chaotic.

But the moment this identity of Supreme Heaven adopted son was revealed, and the monk's robe was put on, the situation immediately changed.

Yang Jiye, imitating Zhang Zhao's half-smiling, all-knowing expression, took the initiative to walk into the midst of Riluge and the others who were still wary of him, smiled faintly, first intoned a Buddhist invocation, and then spoke to these people in the Uyghur tongue.

"I am Yang Qilang, jiālán adopted son of the Supreme Heaven. I have heard that Buniegu of the Yedugua has colluded with the Zubu people and plotted against the Supreme Heaven's wandering monks spreading the gospel across the grasslands, and so I have come specifically to mete out punishment.

Are you disciples of the Supreme Heaven? Have you suffered persecution?"

Riluge looked at the silver-white cloak with the golden swastika that Yang Jiye wore, but what the corner of his eye caught was the great fire reddening the sky and the wisps of dark smoke rising from time to time.

The sound of hoofbeats and battle cries came in waves — those were the Supreme Heaven's punishment knights chasing down anyone they deemed a threat, until no one dared mount a horse again.

An impulse surged up in Riluge's heart, but he quickly suppressed it, because he did not know what these Supreme Heaven punishment knights actually wanted.

"What has the Venerable Master done with the Khan?"

People are like that. When Riluge had cleared the path back then, one reason was to keep the people around him from throwing their lives away.

Because if Yang Jiye and his men had charged straight at them at that moment, they would most likely have been killed outright.

The other reason was that after seeing Yang Jiye's swastika banner, a resentment rose in Riluge's heart toward Buniegu for forbidding them from practicing the Six Dharma Sect, so he was happy to see Buniegu suffer a bit.

But now that he had calmed down, he faintly felt in his heart that these punishment knights he had never seen before were strangers and outsiders, whereas Buniegu, though he would not let them practice the Six Dharma Sect, was one of their own, and had treated them quite well.

And so his heart could not quite turn the corner, and he felt a strong discomfort and uncertainty at having his peaceful, stable life shattered.

Historically, many newly conquered regions quickly erupt in rebellion, sometimes triggered by nothing more than a trivial matter. Apart from the conquerors' power not yet being strong enough to govern deeply, this psychological factor seen in men like Riluge was also a very important reason.

Yang Jiye stared coldly at this strapping man of the grasslands. If he had fifteen hundred men right now, or if a thousand or so auxiliary troops could follow up behind him, he would certainly have cut the man down with one stroke — ordinarily, leaving a man like this alive was sure to be a source of trouble.

But he did not have them now. His entire force was just these seven hundred-odd cavalry, and they had just endured a long forced march.

Right now they urgently needed pack horses to carry their armor and weapons, auxiliary troops to do the dirty and exhausting work, and clean, hot food and drinking water.

Even these young men, whose nerves were stretched to the breaking point, needed some women to comfort and soothe their spirits.

Of course, according to Zhang Zhou military discipline, they would pay a certain amount of salt, sugar lumps, and a length of cloth as compensation. Presumably, as long as someone organized it, there would be no shortage of women willing to earn a little extra.

So after thinking for a moment, Yang Jiye suppressed his urge to simply kill the man, and instead said coldly to Riluge:

"You had best remember: on this grassland there is only one Khan, one Great Khan, and that is the Emperor of Great Zhou, His Majesty the Nizhe Yili Khagan!

He is the holy lord of all herders beneath the heavens. He is the Supreme Heaven, the true incarnation of Tengri!"

Riluge, chilled to the bone by Yang Jiye's gaze, felt his muddled mind suddenly clear considerably.

Once his intelligence had reclaimed the high ground, he remembered again the omnipresent benevolence and wisdom of the Supreme Heaven.

And so, after a brief hesitation, this man of the grasslands prostrated himself before Yang Jiye.

"Praise to the Buddha above. Your disciple Riluge respectfully welcomes your arrival. I shall go at once and prepare offerings for the Buddha."

Yang Jiye nodded. Now this was the proper attitude.

A moment ago, Riluge had called him "Venerable Master" — that is how Six Dharma Sect believers address teaching monks.

But Yang Jiye was not a teaching monk! He had already made clear that he was a jiālán adopted son of the Supreme Heaven, so according to the rules, Riluge should have addressed him as "Venerable Buddha" to be correct.

Calling him "Venerable Master" earlier instead of "Venerable Buddha" showed that in his heart he had not fully accepted and submitted. Now it was different.

In other Buddhist sects, when believers make offerings to the Buddha, it is called "alms-giving," and although the meaning differs somewhat from charity, it is not far off.

But in the Six Dharma Sect, it is directly called "offering to the Buddha."

As for "offering to the Buddha" — the offering is what you ought to make; whether the Buddha accepts it depends on whether your heart is sincere.

Likewise, the term "deliverance" also has a different meaning in the Six Dharma Sect, divided into Dharma deliverance and fearless deliverance. Dharma deliverance means using the words of scripture and Dharma to guide a believer's soul to the Pure Land.

And fearless deliverance basically amounts to "This humble monk shall now deliver you!" — physical deliverance of that sort.

Yang Jiye was now preparing to carry out a fearless deliverance — though the target was not Riluge, but Buniegu.

Great bonfires blazed. The core herders of the Yedugua tribe around the ordu — that is, the most militarily capable group among those ten-thousand-plus tents — were gathered together.

About thirty or forty percent of them were already Six Dharma Sect believers. The rest, though they were not, in their terror quickly came to feel that they had been Six Dharma Sect believers all along.

Buniegu's vitality was very strong. Although he was already at death's door, one must consider that he had been struck by a lance from Yang Wudi — a devil-muscled man of steel who had tempered his body since childhood.

That his brains had not been splattered out on the spot already counted as a lifetime of accumulated virtue. And yet he could still linger at death's door — absolutely a man blessed with a charmed life.

Buniegu had six sons, two of whom were outside commanding the tribesmen — the eldest and the third, neither of whom was much favored by Buniegu.

Of the other four sons, three — including two young boys of seven or eight — were caught outright.

In the glow of the bonfire, the dharma-transmitting monk who had come with Yang Jiye cut the ears of three kinds of livestock with a small knife: a black ox, a white horse, and a yellow sheep.

Amid the mooing and bleating shrieks, blood flowed into a bowl, and the crowd chanted together the Ksitigarbha Fundamental Vow Sutra for the deliverance of the dead.

Then the dharma-transmitting monk poured freshly ground cinnabar into the bowl, bowed once to Yang Jiye, and Yang Jiye walked over, pricked his fingertip with the small knife, and dripped two drops of his own blood into the bowl as well.

At this point, the dharma-transmitting monk held a pellet drum in one hand, shaking it ceaselessly, while the other hand steadily held the bowl — a mixture of ox, horse, and sheep blood with Yang Jiye's blood, but overwhelmingly cinnabar.

He walked before an enshrined image of the Supreme Heaven Buddha, took out a strip of yellow paper, and with a brush wrote upon it the six-syllable mantra: Om, Ma, Ni, Pad, Me, Hum.

Once the six-syllable mantra was written, the dharma-transmitting monk looked utterly drained, his face covered in beads of sweat.

Another dharma-transmitting monk deftly folded the yellow paper bearing the six-syllable mantra, then drew a still-burning twig from the bonfire, lit the paper, and dropped it into a large wine bowl.

With a whoosh, the flames in the bowl shot up violently; once the alcohol had burned away, all that remained was half a bowl of clear water mixed with the charred residue of the yellow paper.

Now tell me — doesn't that look familiar!

I, Sage Zhang, have grown ever more masterful at playing these religious routines over the years; the core methods of the Daoist talisman school have all been borrowed by him.

Er, no — wait! At this time, the three talisman schools of Daoism — the Celestial Master Way, the Shangqing Sect, and the Lingbao Sect — hadn't even fully figured these things out themselves. Sage Zhang here has practically half-invented it.

And that's not all. Besides the usual practice of having the delivered soul drink the talisman water, the black ox, white horse, and yellow sheep each carried their own significance.

The yellow sheep symbolizes wealth; the white horse is for riding; the black ox is the guide leading the way to the Pure Land.

Furthermore, Yang Jiye, as a guardian-protector Sangharama, has essence-blood that serves as the pass to the Pure Land.

As for why the black ox serves as the guide — it is because the scriptures of the Six Dharma Sect say that the reason our Supreme Heaven Wheel-Turning Dharma King went to India was that he once met, at the Jade Gate Pass, an old man riding a black ox who had come from Guanzhong.

The old man told him that the Buddhist order in India faced a calamity, and that it was fated for him to go and save it.

Thus I, the Dharma King, went to India to protect the dharma, and finally, while facing a wall in meditation at Vulture Peak, was summoned by the Buddha and entrusted with the task of protecting the dharma in the mortal world, and so on.

The story was developing step by step, and its direction was growing ever more pointed. Zhang Zhao reckoned that in another ten or twenty years, once more learned scholars — men who understood how important the Six Dharma Sect was to China — joined in, the Scripture of Laozi Converting the Barbarians would make its comeback.

By then, Laozi and the Buddha would be one and the same — perhaps not even a person, but an incarnation of truth, of the true Lord.

In the first year of Shenlong, that wastrel Wu Zetian, in order to use Buddhism to control Anxi — or perhaps she had simply muddled her wits with Buddhist faith and wanted to reach the Buddhist Pure Land before she died — declared the Scripture of Laozi Converting the Barbarians a forged scripture and issued an edict to ban and destroy it.

But in the future, after my brilliant and valiant Dharma King Zhang personally authenticates it, the Scripture of Laozi Converting the Barbarians will be no forged scripture but a true one, and under the rewriting of the Six Dharma Sect, it will shine forth once more.

That will be a major advance, rooted in the culture of the Central Land, for the two great drives: the noble sovereign over the barbarian people, and the civilizing of the outer barbarians.

Now, back to the scene at hand: the dharma-transmitting monk of the Six Dharma Sect had already carried the talisman water to the side of Buniegu, who lay making hoarse sounds in his throat.

Buniegu lay on the sickbed, his eyes staring blankly at the sky, and it was unclear whether he still had any awareness.

Yang Jiye still wore that silver-white cloak with the golden swastika, and had learned Zhang Zhao's bearing and tone to a fair degree.

He looked at Buniegu, and in the eyes of this eighteen-year-old youth there appeared a mingled look of grief, regret, and compassion.

"I truly grieve for you, Buniegu. You could have become a brother who shares heart and gall in our faith, but your heart was lured by the wicked Zubu man Duosage and fell into the evil path."

As he spoke, Yang Jiye took the wine bowl of talisman water from the dharma-transmitting monk's hands and, with a compassionate expression, addressed the herdsmen around him.

"Even so, this man still has a thread of affinity with the Supreme Heaven. Since the Supreme Heaven in its great mercy has sent me here, it is for me to save every soul that has fallen into the evil path."

At this point, Yang Jiye's voice turned solemn and resounding.

"Buniegu! Are you willing to repent your sins and return to the seat of the Supreme Heaven Dharma King? Are you willing to repent under the gaze of Tengri?"

Yang Jiye spoke with stern voice and fierce countenance, but his eyes quietly glanced toward a spot not far to the left.

There, three of Buniegu's sons (one had fled), five daughters, two small grandsons, and several wives and concubines all knelt prostrate on the ground, sobbing softly.

With a gulping sound, Buniegu, whose eyes had been staring fixedly, suddenly rolled his eyeballs twice, and his neck miraculously tilted a little — in the direction of where his wives and children were.

Two lines of murky tears slowly fell from Buniegu's eyes, and the hoarse sounds from his throat grew a little louder.

"Excellent! Excellent!" The two dharma-transmitting monks behind Yang Jiye pressed their palms together in unison.

"Fallen into the evil path, yet at last awakened — great mercy, great compassion, Heaven above Heaven, forgive the soul of this good man!

Now, with the essence-blood of the Sangharama as the pledge, the black ox as the guide, the white horse as the carriage — let the soul return to the ninefold heavens of the Pure Land!"

At these words, Buniegu's hand lifted once, then dropped abruptly. At last, his breath ceased.

Waves of Sanskrit chanting rose, and the herdsmen prostrated themselves again, chanting scriptures along with the dharma-transmitting monks. One monk gently pried open Buniegu's mouth with a ritual implement and poured the bowl of talisman water down his throat.

Then he directly covered the face with the large bowl, and while chanting scriptures, dipped a brush in the remaining cinnabar and wrote scripture all over Buniegu's clothing.

By this time, Yang Jiye had long since walked away; the rites that followed were naturally left to the professionals.

And he also knew that Zhang Zhao did not want the army men to have too much contact with this sort of thing, so not only did he leave himself, he had also kept too many soldiers from participating just now.

Yet Yang Jiye and Pan Mei, having participated in the whole process from beginning to end, still deeply felt the power of the Six Dharma Sect.

Pan Mei especially — he was not a rough warrior like Yang Jiye, who read without seeking deep understanding, but a man willing to read, refined in bearing, and who, especially after receiving Zhang Zhao's encouragement, wanted to read more and become a scholar-general like Duke Li of Wei.

He deeply felt that under the influence of the Six Dharma Sect that Sage Zhang had concocted, the Zhang-Zhou dynasty might truly be able to find a proper path, different from the Han and Tang, that could better pacify the grasslands.

Before long, the preparations for the ceremony were complete, and a large group of Yedugua tribe warriors — including Buniegu's principal wife and his grown fourth son — came and prostrated themselves on the ground.

The fourth son in particular showed little hatred in his eyes toward Yang Jiye, who had just killed his father; he seemed still immersed in longing for his father Buniegu's soul to reach the Pure Land.

Yang Jiye glanced at Pan Mei. The play-acting just now had been the best that he, the Invincible Yang, could manage; for what came next, a quick-witted man like Pan Mei was more suitable.

Moreover, he was the deputy, so if there were any mistakes or omissions, Yang Jiye could step in to remedy them.

So Pan Mei stepped forward resolutely and said to Buniegu's principal wife: "The Protector-General's soul has received the merciful forgiveness of the Supreme Heaven, and the black ox has already guided him to the Pure Land.

But the Zubu man Duosage, who lured the Protector-General into the evil path, still lives. This vengeance, we have not yet taken!"

Buniegu's principal wife, his sons, and the whole group of Yedugua warriors all burned with righteous indignation at these words, as if Buniegu had not been beaten to the point of fatal injury by Yang Jiye, but had been murdered by Duosage.

Riluge stepped forward upon hearing this. "Venerable Buddha, the warriors of the Yedugua tribe are all willing to follow the chastising knights of the Supreme Heaven to the city of Woluduo and exterminate the devil Duosage!"

Buniegu's fourth son also stepped forward. "My eldest brother is a devout believer of the Supreme Heaven, and he is hurrying back even now.

This disciple has already ordered men to prepare some fat sheep and fine wine, and the women to attend the ascetics and knights are also ready. Please, Venerable Buddha, accept our offerings."

Only then did Yang Jiye step forward and nod with satisfaction. "We have only half a day to rest. Tomorrow morning, the Yedugua tribe must levy two thousand devout disciples as followers to accompany us in chastising Duosage.

When the time comes, the Supreme Heaven will surely, in its mercy, bestow the richest pastures, the most beautiful flowers of the Northern Zubu, and the fattest sheep and cattle upon its devout believers."

Asige and the others behind Riluge immediately burst into cheers, and Riluge too set his heart at ease.

They were indeed Walkers and Knights of the Supreme Heaven. Not only would they not take away Yedugua Bu's wealth — as long as he offered his loyalty, he could even follow them to plunder the pastures, cattle, sheep, and women of the Northern Zubu people.

As for whether they could win? Riluge did not consider it a problem.

The Supreme Heaven was said to have nine million nine hundred ninety thousand Punishment Knights — how could they fail to handle one little Duosage!

(End of Chapter)

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