Chapter Ninety-Seven: Thornwood
Qin Yanhui calmly took the gold-inlaid Zen robe from my hand and put it away, and nodded disapprovingly.
"Yes, it's a robe."
"What kind of robe is this?" I asked tentatively, because I suddenly remembered that the prince and I were in the Daxiong Treasure Hall of Jiuhua Mountain, and when the prince was hiding the golden body in pieces, a monk panicked and told the abbot that the robes were stolen.
"Of course, the one who can print the Ten Wheels of Jizo Sutra is the robe worn by the King of Jizo." Qin Yanhui replied completely calmly, and put the robe away as he spoke.
"The six redrawn sutras are mentioned in the scriptures, and if one commits any of the ten most serious negative karmas, one will fall into the Infernal Hell." When the prince heard that the robe in Qin Yanhui's hand turned out to be that of the King of Jizo, he was startled, opened his eyes and said weakly. "Among them, there is the most thief, stealing the three treasures belong to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and it is the public's heart to make offerings, if stealing is the most serious crime, how can the layman walk alone steal the robe."
"What you said is not right, how can this be called theft." Qin Yan thought about it and took out the robe and handed it to the prince, and said with a disapproving smile. "It's that you have distracting thoughts and crushed the golden body to destroy the scriptures, I am kind enough to help you make up for it, there are ten rounds of scriptures on this robe, you take the robe back to worship to reduce the ten directions of the netherworld, and it is also to return to Zhao after the completion of the work, at most it is a loan."
Looking at Qin Yanhui's unruly evil smile on the corner of his mouth, it suddenly reminded me of Han Yu, in my heart Qin Yanhui has always been calm and calm, but I never expected that he would also calculate me and the prince, he took us to this place where he became a Buddha, and prepared ropes and pen and ink in advance.
Now that I think about it, this is not the case, from the very beginning, Qin Yanhui had long known that the prince would shatter the true body of the Tibetan Scripture, and he was using the prince to lure away the warrior monks guarding the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, so that he could take advantage of the unprepared troubled waters to sneak into the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion and steal the Tibetan robe.
The prince has always felt guilty and remorseful for this existence, feeling that he is deeply guilty, and even did not hesitate to paint the true scriptures in blood, and now he is dying, it turns out that it is all Qin Yanhui's calculations.
"I'm calculating what you're doing, isn't there no way, the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion is guarded by eighteen warrior monks, he is a disciple of Buddhism, let him break into the robe, it is estimated that no matter how he says, he will not agree." Qin Yan smiled faintly and did not deny his calm answer. "Stealing the Three Treasures in the Ten Rounds of Crimes is a felony, and if you hurt the monks, I can't hurt them."
"Everything has cause and effect, the six hearts have distracting thoughts, and the golden body is the cause, and later the six realms of retribution are willing to bear one shoulder and no one else." I still wanted to argue with Qin Yanhui, but was interrupted by the prince's weak voice, he looked up at Qin Yanhui resolutely and said sincerely. "Now that the Ten Rounds of True Scripture have been retrieved, there is no lay person who has yet to point out how to make up for other mistakes."
Qin Yanhui said to us unhurriedly, Jin Xi shook open the gate of hell, and the tin staff that was broken by the prince is a magic weapon used by the prince to guard the ten directions of the netherworld, and the ten directions of the netherworld are difficult to calm and there is no tin staff to guard, sooner or later the demons will dance wildly, but the tin staff is made of the thorn wood of the Tianzhu Peak of Jiuhua Mountain, and as long as you can carry the thorn wood back into the fire, you can smelt the gold tin and reforge the staff.
After hearing this, the prince gritted his teeth and stood up from the ground, he lost too much blood and even walked to the point of weakness, I first climbed to the top of the mountain and asked Qin Yan to tie the prince with a rope, I pulled him up from above, and when Qin Yan came back, we rushed to Tianzhu Peak, and I supported the prince who was like a gossamer along the way.
By the time we arrived at Tianzhu Peak, it was already evening, and under the moonlight of the moon stars, we saw Qin Yan stopping under a tree that could only be enclosed with two hands, and the tree was not only the branches and leaves, but the entire trunk was covered with sharp thorns.
"This is the thorn tree, which can be split into fire and melt gold and tin to recast the tin staff." Qin Yan pointed back at the thorn tree and smiled calmly.
I helped the prince to walk over, the prince touched the trunk with his hand, he was dying and weak and even struggled to walk, now I see him gritting his teeth and slowly clenching his fists, the prince's strength I have seen, a punch to break the wood is easy for him, but now he has no strength left, but the prince is still resolute and down.
"It's not a small sin for you to read the golden tin rod, and you came here to atone for your sins, but not for you to use your mana." Qin Yanhui actually took out an axe from the side and handed it to the prince.
I looked up at Qin Yanhui in a daze, he clearly arranged everything in advance, even the axe was prepared for the prince, I just wanted to open my mouth but was interrupted by Qin Yanhui, seeing him shake his hand in front of us.
"The things in Buddhism need to be done by the disciples of Buddhism, so don't get involved in helping, otherwise I won't be able to help you."
Obviously, it was he who calculated that we made the prince what he is now, but from his mouth, how can it be that the prince and I are guilty, and I can't find what to say if I want to refute it.
The prince's weak gasp looked indifferent to the world, he didn't say anything and took the axe from Qin Yanhui's hand, he used all his strength to cut down the thorn tree, the not thick trunk turned out to be as strong and hard as a rock, the prince cut down with an axe and only cut down a very shallow mark, the axe in the prince's hand fell to the ground, under the moonlight, I saw that the prince's open palm was full of wooden thorns that had not been cleaned before, and a little force would tear my heart and lungs, and now I have to use hard to hold the axe and cut the wood, but the more this happens, the more it will hurt my heart.
The prince was already weak, and even bending down to pick up the axe became a very difficult thing for him, my heart ached when I watched from the side, the prince held the axe and his head was full of cold sweat, but I never heard the slightest sound from his mouth, in order to prevent too much pain from holding the axe, the prince took off his shirt and twisted it into a rope to tie the axe tightly in the palm of his hand, the prince's cheeks were as firm as a rock under the moonlight, and the undulating cheeks were his gritted teeth.
Every time the axe was cut down, I saw his hand being shaken away weakly, and the wooden thorns in his palm must have sunk deeper, but Qin Yanhui kept telling the prince to complete it by himself, and it was especially uncomfortable to see him suffering so much that he couldn't share it.
The thorn wood was hard, and the trees were not thick, and the prince's weak body was cut down by the prince until dawn, and I saw the corners of his mouth squirming involuntarily, and I knew how much pain he was suffering.
"Carry the thorn wood and go back to the Tibetan Zen Temple to melt the gold and tin."
Qin Yan didn't say a word of relief when he saw that the tree was cut down, so he turned around and walked in front of us and said.
"I'll help him carry it!" I couldn't help but say back to Qin Yan loudly.
"Yes, if you want to carry it, let him help you cut down another tree, and he must carry back the thorn wood for smelting the tin rod himself, otherwise it will fall short, don't blame me for not reminding you." Qin Yan said without looking back.
"I'll do it, don't worry."
The prince's voice was as weak as the others, he threw down the axe in his hand, squatted on the ground, and then slowly turned his head to look at me, and suddenly showed a pure and clean smile, this was the first time I had seen him smile like this, and he must have comforted me.
"I don't have the strength to carry this thorn tree, help me put it on my back."
My heart trembled, and the thorny tree was covered with spikes, and the prince carried it back like this...... I thought about it all terrified, but there was no other way, sighed heavily, gritted my teeth and picked up the thorn wood, and the spikes on it instantly pierced into my hand, and I couldn't help but feel the pain of the prince.
I carefully put it on the prince's back as lightly as possible, and the weight of the trees easily sank the spikes into his back, and the prince's half-kneeling body sank suddenly, and he used his arm to support the green tendons on it, and suddenly burst out, he had lost too much blood, and his body was already weak and weak, and now he had to bear not only the weight of the thorn wood, but also the sharp pain of the spikes cutting his back.
It took a long time for the prince to sink his hands into fists and slowly stand up little by little, and he fastened the thorn wood to his waist with his shirt, and with each step the undulating spikes repeatedly cut deeper wounds on his back.
I couldn't help him, the only thing I could do was to not say a word, but my heart was like a knife and accompanied him step by step slowly, but even with all this hardship and pain, I still didn't hear the slightest sound from him.
From Tianzhu Mountain to Dizang Zen Temple, I accompanied the prince to walk for a day and a night, on the way pilgrims saw the prince full of flesh and blood blurred and were all moved, they all got out of the way of the passage and sent them off with joy and sincerity, when they were about to reach the mountain gate of Dizang Zen Temple, the prince's back was no longer visible a complete flesh and skin, and every step out of the blood continued to drip on the ground behind him was a long blood stain.
To the last step, the prince climbed almost with the thorn tree on his back, and I kept clenching my fists beside me, so that the tears in my eyes would not flow.
Qin Yanhui was already sitting at the door of the Dizang Zen Temple, he could still laugh, I still couldn't understand his smile, but I never wanted to hate him so much now, but unfortunately Qin Yanhui knew the anger in my eyes but didn't mind at all.
The abbot in the Zen temple led the monks to greet him together, and saw the prince who was covered in scales and flesh and blood, and they all folded their hands to declare the Buddha's name, and the people in the Buddhist door were merciful and compassionate, and the abbot was shocked to see that the prince actually carried the thorny wood into the temple.
"You're a disciple of Buddhism?"
"Disciple Dharma number six paths." The prince replied weakly with all his might.
"Before the Jizo Bodhisattva became a Buddha, he carried thorn wood to melt gold and tin, and cast a staff to guard the ten directions of the netherworld. The abbot led the monks to salute the prince.
The prince was panting, and said word by word intermittently, very reverently and respectfully.
"The six hearts have miscellaneous thoughts and six impurities, the scriptures are vainly spoken in the main hall, and the disciples who hide the golden body in the broken ground are deeply guilty, and they can only carry the thorn wood and recast tin rods, and the disciples are hard to take the blame for their mistakes, and they are willing to receive the Dharma and punish them."