Chapter 402: with translation of chapter title

The wooden fish sound continued to be struck slowly and steadily, accompanied by the sounds of turning prayer beads and chanting sutras.

The visitor seemed to have come specially to repent before the Buddha Shakyamuni.

But as soon as the sutra chanting began, the little novice's face turned extremely grim.

He released the bell in his hand; the iron chain with the bell struck toward the prayer wheel, shasha... hualala, then continuously fell, the scales that had flipped over flipped back, the Golden Dragon kept falling, the mana that the monks had just generated through chanting and ritual was thus broken!

The little novice laughed angrily, obviously knowing who was outside, and said, "Why bother again?"

"Back then, our master placed great hopes in you, secretly planting you in the Great Dharma King Temple, hoping you could turn Dahui Chan Master to our use, but you were utterly disappointing; at the critical moment you were instead persuaded, causing our previous efforts to come to nothing. Do you know how many years I spent redeploying all this, how much painstaking effort I expended?! This is all to clean up your mess!"

"Now the three Buddhas have simultaneously appeared on Mount Song; this is a rare opportunity, a great boon bestowed upon us by Shang Cang. We should follow the heavenly will—do you understand or not?!"

I furrowed my brows, grasping a key point—the three Buddhas appearing together.

Three Buddhas?

Which three Buddhas?

The soul of the Reincarnated Spirit Child counts as one.

Perhaps the Little Guy in my belly could also count as one?

What about the third one?

It's the Copper Coin Person! It's the Dībā pò!

So what exactly is the relationship among these three?

From outside came a rich, low voice: "Xindeng, lay down the butcher's blade, turn back and reach shore!"

This voice... is actually the Empty Silence Abbott!

"Hahaha, hahaha..." the little novice laughed as if hearing the greatest joke, unable to stop, "Lay down the butcher's blade, turn back and reach shore? Empty Silence, I ask you, you have laid down the blade, but can you really turn back?"

In response, there came the incessant sound of the wooden fish being struck.

The little novice grew annoyed hearing it, his anger flaring.

He stepped back two steps, pointing at the inner wall of the tower's center, at the statues of abbots and eminent monks whose physical bodies had been mummified, he mocked: "Empty Silence, as the current abbot of the Great Dharma King Temple, after your nirvana, do you think your mummified body will be gilded? Are you qualified to be enshrined together with them in this Revolving Wheel Tower, receiving incense offerings?"

He then pointed downward with his other hand: "Or do you think your relics after mummification will also be treasured in the stupa beneath the Revolving Wheel Tower? Empty Silence, how many more years will you keep dreaming this spring-and-autumn dream?"

"Why do you still not understand that we can only win, not lose?"

"Since ancient times, the victor becomes king, the loser becomes bandit; if we win, we will rewrite the history of the Buddhist realm; if we lose, you, I, and all of us will be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame, with no escape."

"What 'lay down the butcher's blade, turn back and reach shore'? That blade is not only in our hands, but constantly at our throats! When you put down your blade, others will unhesitatingly slash their blades at your neck!"

"Empty Silence, you've gone mad from chanting sutras! Do you still indulge in such fantasies?"

I stared at the little novice in disbelief.

He has been in the Buddhist gate for many years, cultivating assiduously.

Even though the two Buddhist schools are opposed, he is still a Buddhist at heart.

How could such a person utter words like 'victor becomes king, loser becomes bandit' and 'rewrite history'?

If Buddhism were ultimately controlled single-handedly by such a person, it would not be a blessing for all beings, but a calamity for living souls!

"Amitabha." From outside, the Empty Silence Abbott's disappointed voice sounded again: "Xindeng, how many years have you been by my side? Two hundred? Or three hundred?"

"These years have truly been hard on you, hiding your ambitions so well. I was indeed indulging in fantasies, always thinking you had already been transformed by the Dharma and were like-minded with me, until this manifestation of the three Buddhas, you finally revealed your true nature."

"I've told you many times: the Dharma is boundless, cultivation cultivates the mind; we enter the empty gate not for posthumous matters, nor for fame and profit, for evil does not prevail over good—that is the world's principle. You think you have everything under control, yet you are full of loopholes..."

"Enough!" the little novice roared, "Full of loopholes? My only loophole is being too merciful toward you, merely imprisoning you with a formation array instead of decisively killing you! Since you don't know gratitude, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

As his words fell, the little novice struck out with a palm from afar.

Our position is directly behind the Shakyamuni Buddha statue; the palm wind must pass through the statue before it can attack the Empty Silence Abbott.

If the little novice had even a shred of Buddhist compassion, he would not do this.

What no one expected was that, although the palm struck the Buddha statue, it failed to pierce through.

The fierce palm wind penetrated the statue's interior, where it was trapped.

The Buddha statue's belly is actually hollow.

The palm wind was trapped in the statue's belly, constantly trembling and emitting a buzzing sound.

And the Empty Silence Abbott's chanting seemed to suddenly penetrate the statue's belly as well, spreading outward with that vibration, shaking my eardrums as if they would burst.

The little novice obviously did not anticipate such a change.

Perhaps only at this moment did he realize he had been tricked!

The knocking sounds outside the tower, the knocking at the second-level stone cave mouth, and the wooden fish striking were all deliberately made by the Empty Silence Abbott to attract the little novice's attention, provoke him, focus his mind on himself, and thus overlook other things.

And the hollowness inside this Shakyamuni Buddha statue is certainly known to the Empty Silence Abbott.

What does he intend to do by exploiting this?

At this moment, the little novice could no longer attend to anything else; he lifted his leg and ran out, and soon the sounds of fighting arose.

By the time I chased out, they had already leapt from the railing on the exterior of the second level of the tower, landing in the open space before the four-cornered bronze cauldrons, fighting fiercely.

There was movement inside; logically, the people the little novice had ambushed outside should have rushed in immediately, but the secret passage from the Sutra Pavilion to here remained closed.

That secret door is the sole entrance and exit to this realm.

What happened outside?

What about that giant beast?

What about the little novice's ambush?

His infiltration of the Great Dharma King Temple is certainly not just ten or a hundred years.

According to the Empty Silence Abbott, it must be at least two or three hundred years!

With such a lengthy deployment, it shouldn't have ended up like this, should it?!

At that moment, I heard the sound of the iron chain being pulled, followed immediately by the sound of the track gears turning.

The sound of the turning track gears came from the Sutra Pavilion.

The Scripture Pavilion is very tall and large, divided into many layers; the transport of scriptures and ancient texts between the upper and lower layers is accomplished via these tracks.

When I entered with the little novice monk, I had seen those tracks.

But just now, the sound of the track's gears turning continued from inside the Scripture Pavilion, traveling underground and pulling the iron chain in the well.

The iron chain was pulled straight, tugging the bronze tongue, and a solemn, deep bronze bell toll suddenly rang.

Dong……