Chapter 60: Repentance

The royal palace of Wu Yue was built at the foot of Phoenix Mountain. The building built on the highest part of the terrain is not a palace, but a temple called Gokokuji Temple. A small temple with an area comparable to that of the people, the gate is strictly guarded, and the guards are all monks. If a monk walks in the royal palace, it must be at least a column of three people, dressed in white monk's robes. Because the royal family advocates Buddhism, even in the inner courtyard of the deep palace, Buddhist temples must be built for the purpose of worshipping the Buddha by the lord or concubine.

Huguo Temple has built buildings such as the Daxiong Treasure Hall, the Medicine Master Hall, and the Jizo Hall. The ritual for the Dai family's beheaded people to transcend the soul of the dead is set up in the Jizo Temple, and the nine mages chant together, and the mages are replaced in turn, but the chanting does not stop, and must be kept day and night, lasting for seven days.

The reason why the three supervisors were allowed to come to Huguo Temple to observe the rituals. The ostensible meaning is because he is afraid that the soul of the dead will become a powerful ghost and hurt the person who is beheaded. But Qi Chongwu didn't think so in his heart, but thought that Empress Dowager Xu was not willing at all, so he asked him to intervene in the trial of Dai Yun's plot against him. He was asked to observe the Dharma just to distract him.

Qi Chongwu is worried about his future. As Dai Yun's distant relative, he beheaded Dai Yun, and he kept asking himself in his heart, would other Dai Yun's cronies let him go? Especially Dai Yun's son Dai Feng, will he let him go? He didn't know that Dai Feng had been killed, and the matter was extremely secret, and Xie Xiangcun rushed to return to Hangzhou day and night before the news leaked. Moreover, the secretary of the border army was not mourned, and there was no movement, not to mention Qi Chongwu, even Dai Yun was unaware of it beforehand.

Qi Chongwu was afraid that he would be assassinated by the dead soldiers of the Dai family like Zhen Fu; At the same time, he was also worried that once Dai Yun died, Empress Dowager Xu would look for an opportunity to eradicate him. After all, he is Dai Yun's sworn friend, and he disobeys the Empress Dowager Xu, he doesn't believe that the Empress Dowager Xu will let him go, and the appointment of Li Jishen as the squire of the Criminal Department is already a very obvious precursor. Under the heavy heart, Qi Chongwu didn't hear the sound of chanting in the Dizang Palace.

As a person who has been in the palace for nearly forty years, after these bloody battles, he has long hoped that Empress Dowager Xu can get rid of Dai Yun as soon as possible, as a loyal minister of the royal family, if Empress Dowager Xu loses to Dai Yun, then he must be included in the list of Zhulian killed. He faced the solemn statue of Jizo Bodhisattva, and saluted with great reverence, after all, the Bodhisattva blessed the royal family, blessed him, and made him avoid disasters. The head of Shang is dying, he knows that he is not favored by Qian Hongzuo, and it is a matter of time before he is replaced by Wu Dezhang, the steward of Qian Hongzuo's side, who is in his prime, as the head of the inner court, but he knows that the royal family will give him the best treatment and let him enjoy his old age in peace. He prayed silently in his heart that the Bodhisattva would continue to bless him.

Xie Xiangcun stared silently at the table, the Shang Fang sword given to him by the Holy Lord, the blood on it had been cleaned. But this sword is a sharp weapon for drinking blood, and after the killing ring, it must be recited to eliminate bad luck and evil spirits, so as to maintain its sacredness. Therefore, during the ritual period, he can only be offered on the table day and night together with other ritual utensils, and cannot be worn by him.

After sitting for a while, Qi Chongwu couldn't sit still at first, got up to greet Xiao Shami, and took him to the meditation room to rest. Seeing that Qi Chongwu had left first, the chief merchant said to Xie Xiangcun: "Master Xie, this Dharma has to last for seven days, and we are tired today, so let's go back to the meditation room to rest first, and come back tomorrow." ”

Xie Xiangcun said: "You go and rest first." I'll sit down a little longer. ”

Xie Xiangcun sat here, I don't know how long he sits, and the teachers who chanted the scriptures rotated one after another, but Xie Xiangcun always sat on the futon, and began to learn the appearance of a monk and recite the "mantra of death". Xie Xiangcun is intelligent, and after listening to the mantra many times, although it is Sanskrit, he can remember it, and he can recite it when the monk leads the chant.

The abbot of Huguo Temple is a repentant monk who came to inspect the rituals. Xie Xiangcun didn't recognize him, and continued to learn and chant with the monks. The repentant abbot saw that Xie Xiangcun was quite attentive, so he didn't come forward to talk.

When the abbot of repentance came to the Dizang Hall again, he slowly sat down next to Xie Xiangcun, who was chanting, and said in a low voice: "Thank you, the poor monk is the abbot here, and the Dharma name is repentance." ”

Xie Xiangcun hurriedly clasped his hands together and saluted: "It turned out to be the abbot master, and he didn't know it in his later years, so he was disrespectful and disrespectful." ”

The repentant abbot asked, "Lord Xie, I see you staring at Shang Fang's sword, are you worried that this Shang Fang's sword is not safe to put here?" ”

Xie Xiangcun said: "That's not the case, your temple sent six warrior monks to take turns to protect the sword, and this is the important place of the palace, I believe there should be no mistakes." ”

The repentant abbot said: "Then Lord Xie has been sitting here, is he mourning the soul?" ”

Xie Xiangcun lowered his eyes and said: "Although Dai Yun has brought disaster to the country and the people, his descendants are innocent, they are young, I see what Dai Yun did, they may not know." I hope they will go all the way and never encounter such a catastrophe in the next life. I owe them a blood debt in this life, and I wish to pay it again in the next. ”

The repentant abbot was somewhat surprised by Xie Xiangcun's words, and said, "It's rare for you to say that." Thank you, the poor monk is inviting you to eat fasting, and the business donor, Qi donor has been waiting for you for a long time. ”

Xie Xiangcun said: "I see, there is Master Lao." ”

Xie Xiangcun followed the repentant abbot out of the Jizo Temple, stepping on the fallen leaves all over the ground, the two walked slowly on the path, in early winter, the boundless fallen trees fell down, the red leaves were like blood, and some floated on the bodies of the two, Xie Xiangcun's face was haggard and sad.

The repentant abbot was silent for a long time, and finally said: "The poor monk has a saying, I don't know if Lord Xie can listen to it?" ”

Xie Xiangcun said: "Master Abbot, please speak." ”

The repentant abbot asked: "Cao Song has a poem: If you rely on your words to seal the marquis, you will succeed and your bones will wither." Does Lord Xie think so? ”

Xie Xiangcun stared at the repentant abbot, shocked and angry, he killed Dai Yun not to fight for power and profit at all, but to achieve his own success. But a monk like the abbot of repentance is regarded like this, let alone others.

A cold wind blew, Xie Xiangcun calmed down a little, and said awe-inspiringly: "Late life has no such intention, Master Abbot, I'm afraid that I have misunderstood me." ”

The repentant abbot said: "Lord Xie, many years ago, the poor monk was just an ordinary monk here, and he once participated in a grand ceremony in the Dizang Temple, and was one of the mages who recited the scriptures and overspent the soul. ”

Xie Xiangcun was stunned for a moment and asked, "Who was it for at that time, and why did Dai Yun be ordered to observe?" ”

The repentant abbot said: "At that time, Queen Ma poisoned the inner palace, Dai Yun was the commander of the forbidden army, he assisted the first king to cut off the Ma family's forces, outside the Luo City Gate, after killing the Ma family's minions, he was ordered to come here to listen to the ritual of the soul. ”

The scenes on the execution ground appeared in front of Xie Xiangcun's eyes. Minghuang's chopping knife, rolling head, and spurting blood, just the prison officer, from himself to Dai Yun back then, Xie Xiangcun's heart sank suddenly.

The repentant abbot sighed and said: "Back then, Dai Yun came here to listen to the rituals, saying that the minions of the Ma family were innocent of death, and it was foolish to pray for them to die. Kyogen said that when these people were people, they were not his opponents, so what could they do if they were ghosts? I don't think he ever thought that his end would be the same as those people. ”

Xie Xiangcun clasped his hands together and said: "Thank you Master Abbot for his teachings, I don't want to excuse myself in my later life, and I don't regret killing Dai Yun." But the words of the abbot master will always be remembered in order to prevent himself from repeating Dai Yun's mistakes. ”