Book 14 Chapter 1 - Martial Art Master from The Other Side
Bursts of long and drawn out, rising and falling, chanting voices that seemed to be coming from an unknown distant places, spread throughout the temple.
The three felt as if they were entering an uninhabited place, as they climbed the stairs of the tower where the huge bell, which weighed around a thousand catty, was hung, from where they looked down far and near to examine the situation.
The buildings inside Jing Nian Chanyuan were arranged neatly along the central axis, which ran directly from the Temple's main gate, with the Copper Hall as the center of the monastery. The buildings were sized uniformly.
Other than the Copper Hall, all buildings had tri-colored glazed roof tiles. The color and luster looked new; perhaps some monks in the Temple were diligent enough to clean up, so that the tiles looked like this. Among the three colors, the peacock blue was the most dazzling. It could be imagined that the buildings would be resplendent under the bright sunshine.
From the bell tower where the three were located to the Copper Hall, there was only other building in between, but the distances were quite different; the former was far and the latter was near.
In front of the Copper Hall there was a vast open area, approximately a hundred zhang wide, covered in slabs of white stone, encircled by a fence made of carved white stone, forming a flat plaza.
In the middle of the white stone plaza was a shrine with a bronze statue of Manjushri Bodhisattva, riding on the back of a golden-mane lion. The statue's height was approximately two zhang. Next to the shrine were the painted clay figures with gold ornaments of Pharmacist Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, and Amitabha, the three-world Buddhas. [Sorry, I am not familiar with Buddhism; these are simply what the dictionary gave me.] The figures looked imposing, but there was a bit of out-of-place feeling with the general situation of the monastery.
On all four sides of the white stone plaza, other than four gateways with white stone steps, there were 500 luohan [arhats] scattered around; all were made of cast bronze, each one's expression and posture was different from each other. However, whether it opened its eyes wide and had protruding forehead, or with its eyes drooping down in self defense, every single one was vivid and lifelike, no different from any living being.
The other buildings formed a whole entity with the main hall as at the axis; they were spread out in a clear and good order to the eight points of the compass, separated by wooded path, creating a divine atmosphere that was solemn and serene.
There was a large incense burner in front of the Manjushri Bodhisattva in the white stone plaza, burning sandalwood incense that the aroma permeated the air, so that the three could not help their mood from calming down, almost to the point of feeling as if they had withdrawn from worldly affairs.
Looking into the distance, at the stone steps outside the main gate extending down toward the foot of the mountain, Xu Ziling spoke in low voice, "There ought to be eight hundred and eight steps; what a coincidence.”
However, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were unable to take their eyes off the Copper Hall, which main door was tightly closed, while thinking about their plan of action.
The chanting noise came precisely from the main hall, which was only about ten zhang behind the Copper Hall, while elsewhere in the monastery there was not even half a shadow to be seen. There was some kind of profound mystery that made people did not dare to act blindly without thinking.
The strangest thing was that other than the lanterns illuminating the white stone plaza and the statues in it, there was no other light. Even the main hall, where the chanting was coming from, was in total darkness, giving out the impression that as soon as one would step into the white stone plaza, one would immediately become the most obvious target.
It's just that tonight the bright moon was high in the sky, illuminating the glazed roof tiles, bringing out their extraordinary splendor, and making the trees along the pathways, inside and outside of the Temple casting their shadows onto the streets, adding an unfathomable mystery onto the Temple's already mysterious atmosphere.
Craning his neck to look down, Kou Zhong spoke in low voice, "What exactly is wrong? How come there's an uneasiness in my heart?”
Xu Ziling, standing on his other side, sneered and said, "This is called lacking in confidence in being a thief; you know that?”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, "I am definitely a thief, but I do not lack confidence. Just think, the Jade Annulus of He Clan is an unusual treasure handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, basically it does not belong to anybody, and only virtuous persons can obtain it. Of course! Nobody can decide whether someone else was virtuous or not. Therefore, now we can only see whose luck is a bit better, whose fist is a bit harder.”
Flashing with divine light, Ba Fenghan's tiger-eyes stared at the cast-copper building's door; frowning, he said, "This copper hall does not have even half a window. There are only four venting holes as big as human fist on the top. Supposing Liao Kong Dashi is personally sitting inside to protect the treasure, and he did not forget to bolt the copper door, it would be strange indeed we are not going to have a headache just thinking about it.”
Kou Zhong scooted over to him; acting as an old friend, he put his hand on Ba Fenghan's shoulder and then with brows raised in delight and eyes laughing, he proudly said, "I guarantee that won't happen, unless he wanted to taste how fire-deviation would feel like. This kind of old baldhead spends his time all year long in hard cultivation. Sitting in meditation is like lustful over women, he can't miss even one day.”
Smiling ruefully, Ba Fenghan said, "Haven't you heard Buddhist saying, ‘If I don't go into hell, who would?' Your guarantee does not amount to half a chance of success.”
Astonished, Kou Zhong said, "I was only hoping that Liao Kong is not that great of a monk. How about this: let me go down and give it a try?”
After pondering silently for half a day, while staring at Xu Ziling's back Ba Fenghan said, "Ling Shao, do you have any idea?”
Certainly Kou Zhong was not surprised that Ba Fenghan would want to seek Xu Ziling's advice first. Because, just like Ba Fenghan, he had great respect toward Xu Ziling's ‘perception'.
Xu Ziling shifted his gaze to the night sky. With yearning look in his eyes he said, "Have you noticed the way they are chanting? They are reciting the scripture in one breath; so chanting is like in-and-out breathing. Plus they are divided into two groups: one group finishes reciting, the other group continues on without the slightest bit of interruption, just like the unceasing flow of water. Not only it is pleasant to hear, it is also one kind of superb training method.”
Hearing that, Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong looked at each other.
The fact is that as soon as they entered the monastery complex, these two had their mind only on the Jade Annulus of He Clan. They only listened to a few words of some unknown scripture and promptly regarded the chanting of the sutras as the wind past their ears.
Emotionally moved, Ba Fenghan said, "If the length of the chanting is to be used as the criteria to measure the in-and-out breathing, all the Buddhist monks here have very strong base in internal energy, plus each group ought to consist of about a hundred men.”
His countenance changed, Kou Zhong said, "More than two hundred monks with superior martial art skill, plus the Four Great Vajra protectors of the Temple, and one Liao Kong Chanzhu [dhyana master/leader] who practices silent meditation. Oh my Niang!”
Xu Ziling spoke in heavy voice, "Therefore, we must absolutely not act blindly without thinking. If they are alarmed, all three of us might have to stay here forever as Buddhist monks. For me, I don't have any problem, but I am afraid the two of you might unable to endure it.”
Breathing out a mouthful of cold air, Kou Zhong said, "Are you saying that we should go back empty-handed?”
Xu Ziling said, "Seeing difficulty and turning back is not a real man's conduct. This is called a thief will have a thief's way. However, there is not a single thing in this Buddhist Hall that is rational. Since Shi Feixuan has the confidence to entrust the Jade Annulus of He Clan, which relates to the fate of the world, to them, she must be confident that they have the power to guard the treasure, and won't let you easily crash into the Copper Hall to snatch and take it away just like that.”
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong cast their gaze back toward the Copper Hall; they both felt big headache was coming.
The entire monastery was suffused with enigmatic chill.
Taking a deep breath, Kou Zhong said, "Is it possible that as soon as the copper door is opened the alarm bell will ring? Although it is just a widget, but very effective, and there is no way to break it.”
Ba Fenghan nodded and said, "That is indeed a very intelligent method to guard against theft. If they hang bells inside the door, as soon as we open those two copper doors that weigh a thousand catty, it would be strange indeed if we do not fall into a trap.”