Chapter 933

These attendant figures were mostly images of You Dongying beauties, scantily clad and voluptuous in form.

Such a peculiar corridor left Chi Laowen, who was used to Buddhist temples, somewhat dumbfounded.

"Patron, you must be wondering why this corridor is so strange?"

Renguang followed closely, trailing behind Chi Laowen.

Seeing Chi Laowen's astonishment, he immediately explained with a smile,

"The Sha Sect spread from Tianzhu to the Central Plains, and from the Central Plains to You Dongying.

When it reached You Dongying, the land above was infested with a hundred thousand demons and monsters.

The behavior of these demons differed vastly from those of the Central Plains, and they received worship from the local people of You Dongying.

The first generation of missionary monks, after taking the actual circumstances into account,

reached an agreement with the demons and monsters.

As long as the demons were willing to turn from evil and join our Sha Sect, all could cultivate the proper fruit.

Those unwilling to submit were jointly suppressed by the virtuous demons and the great missionary masters.

Therefore, to this day, these virtuous demons and the You Dongying warriors who contributed to the missionary work

have all been incorporated into our divine system and receive worship from our Sha Sect followers."

This story was nearly like a myth.

Chi Laowen listened and could not help but be curious.

Could it be that this land of You Dongying truly once had demons?

Only this question was not convenient to ask.

First, it would amount to questioning the other's faith, needlessly inviting trouble.

Second, it truly had nothing to do with Chi Laowen.

For now, he merely chatted casually with Renguang about these stories of You Dongying warriors and demons.

After walking through this long corridor, they finally entered the main hall.

He had assumed, looking from outside, that this main hall soared Gao Song into the clouds.

According to the standard layout of Buddhist temples in the Great Yuan of the Nine Provinces, the main hall should contain a golden Buddha statue several zhang tall.

But upon entering, he discovered that in the vast main hall, there was only a corpse-like frame resembling a charred body, placed in the position where the golden Buddha should have been.

"This is the Buddha worshipped by this temple—Buddha Renguang."

Renguang did not wait for Chi Laowen to ask, but pointed at the charred-corpse-like body and said solemnly to Chi Laowen.

"What? Buddha Renguang? What Buddha is this?"

Chi Laowen, in the Great Yuan, could also be considered a Buddhist; if not three thousand Buddhas, at least most of them he knew.

Yet among the many Buddhas he knew, there was absolutely no such charred-corpse-like Buddha Renguang.

No matter how one looked at this Buddha Renguang, it seemed like nothing more than a corpse that had been drained of essence, qi, and spirit.

How could it be called a Buddha here?

Moreover, Buddha Renguang—and this novice monk calling himself Renguang—how very strange.

Chi Laowen's questions were rather impolite.

Renguang, however, did not mind at all; a warm smile on his face, he said,

"Our Buddha Renguang originated from a temple on Mount Wuyi.

When he was born, his looks were extraordinarily handsome.

Even his birth mother was intoxicated by his peerless appearance.

His father, jealous of his looks, sent him to a temple on the mountain to become a monk.

When he grew up, our Buddha was dispatched by the temple elders to go down the mountain to beg for alms.

The moment he descended the mountain, he would draw crowds of women to gather around.

From the elderly of eighty or ninety, down to six-year-old infants.

As long as they were women, they would swarm forth to see our Buddha, lost in his appearance.

Among them, the bold and daring ones even directly wanted our Buddha to return to secular life and go home with them to marry.

But our Buddha had grown up in a Buddhist temple since childhood, and had long been single-heartedly devoted to the Buddha.

Therefore he firmly refused, and after finishing the alms-begging, returned to the mountain temple.

Upon returning, he found his mind filled with troubling thoughts of women.

After confiding in the elder, and under the elder's guidance, he returned to his meditation chamber, recited and contemplated, resolving it himself.

After half a month like this, he finally dispelled the improper thoughts from his heart and achieved a clear state of mind.

Only then, under the elder's assignment, did he go down the mountain again to continue his alms-begging and cultivation.

Yet this time, once again he drew crowds of women to gather.

There were even women from Honshu Island, even from Kyushu Island, who, hearing of our Buddha's peerless looks, traveled thousands of miles to come.

Thus, beauties of every kind actually came to blows over our Buddha, hoping to win his favor.

Our Buddha, unable to bear the disturbance, with astonishing resolve, managed to return to the mountain.

After that, he spent three months before once again calming the improper thoughts in his heart.

Afterwards he met the elder and confided the bitterness in his heart.

The elder said, if one does not enter the mortal world, how can one transcend it?

Our Buddha was greatly enlightened, and immediately went down the mountain again.

This time, he concealed his appearance and mingled into the marketplace.

At last, he cultivated in the mortal world for over three months.

Just as his Chan heart was about to settle into great samadhi, on the verge of attaining the Dao—

he heard that in a certain village, a female demon was committing evil.

To deliver all living beings, he went alone to that village to slay the demon.

The details of what happened, the world no longer knows.

All that is known is that after our Buddha arrived, this female demon vanished.

And our Buddha was left with only this fleshly body, lost.

Therefore the people built this Shinto Shrine here, to enshrine our Buddha.

The monks who cultivate here all style themselves Renguang.

To take from our Buddha's meaning of sacrificing himself to become benevolent!"

This explanation laid out the origins of both Buddha Renguang and this Shinto Shrine.

After speaking, Renguang once more bowed solemnly and reverently toward the mummy-like Buddha Renguang.

His lips moved in prayer, his expression solemn and majestic, utterly devout.

General Chilaowen, hearing these tales of a strange and remarkable man, felt this Buddha Renguang had some real substance to him.

But hearing "demon" again, he found it rather odd.

Could it be that this You Dongying truly has demons?

But what on earth is this demon?

With so many doubts in his heart, General Chilaowen did not ask.

Still, one sigh rose in his heart: those little Japs, you've got to hand it to them.

He then followed Renguang's instructions, kneeling straight on the prayer cushion before Buddha Renguang.

Silently praying in his heart, hoping this Buddha Renguang would bestow his blessing and permit him to go to the Central Plains.

"You wish to go to the Central Plains?"

The thought had only just arisen when, from deep within his heart, suddenly came a hoarse, gender-indeterminate, strange voice.

General Chilaowen could not help but startle; he opened his eyes and looked around.

He found that in this vast great hall, apart from Renguang burying his head in sutra-chanting and striking the wooden fish from time to time—

there was no one else.

His heart stirred, and he prepared to release his Xin Qiji to sense outward.

He found it even more Xie Sect this time—his Xin Qiji had not even left his body before it was pressed back inside, utterly motionless.

731 How could it be him?

"This Venerable One asks you—do you wish to go to the Central Plains?"