After finding Xuanzang, Fahai walked with him all the way, and at noon the next day, the two arrived in Chang'an.

The gatekeeper learned the identities of the two and immediately respectfully invited them to the Great Xiangguo Temple.

When he came to the gate of Xiangguo Temple, Fahai saw that there were many monks standing on both sides of the door. Fahai and Xuanzang each handed the invitation to the monks who knew the guest, and after a while, the sound of gongs and drums suddenly sounded in the temple.

Then, the palatial temple door opened, and out of it came an old monk dressed in a gorgeous kapok robe, came to the two of them, and each gave a salute.

"Amitabha, the poor monk is the presiding officer of Xiangguo Temple, the Dharma name is Jingxuan, the two masters have traveled a long distance, it must be very hard, right?"

The young Xuanzang immediately returned the salute: "The little monk doesn't dare to be a master, it is Xuanzang's wish to come here to go to the water and land conference, why talk about hard work?"

"Hehe, Master Xuanzang is polite. Jingxuan presided over and turned to Fa Haidao again:

"This must be Senior Brother Fahai of Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang, right? Senior Brother is so old, he still works tirelessly, and he has traveled thousands of miles to attend the meeting, and the poor monk is really admired. ”

"Don't dare to be. Fahai nodded in return, looked at the official guards standing on both sides of the temple gate, and said, "Why are there so many officials in front of the temple?"

Jingxuan smiled slightly and said: "It's not a secret, Your Majesty has been in the temple for many days, and when you see the two later, Your Majesty will be happy, please come with me." ”

In the main hall of Xiangguo Temple, in the Maha Hall, Tang Emperor Li Shimin is dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, wearing a golden crown, and sits on the throne.

On his left and right, there are three gold wire futons, and the three futons on the left are already full of monks.

After the Jingxuan presided over the two of them into the hall, the three of them gave Li Shimin the gift of Buddhism, and then sat down on the three futons on his right side under the emperor's instructions.

Li Shimin looked at Guan Hai and Xuanzang, and nodded happily.

"Since the two eminent monks have just arrived, let's ask Jingxuan to preside over the introduction of the masters to each other. ”

Jing Xuan comprehended the order, and then got up and introduced them one by one.

Fahai and Xuanzang don't mention it, Jingxuan is the host of Xiangguo Temple, and the two have known each other before.

Among the three people on the left are Master Huiyan of the Lingnan Pure Land Sect, Master Jieming of the Jiangbei Fahua Sect, and Master Lotus from the Tibetan Tantric Sect.

After the introduction, Jingxuan said to Li Shimin:

"Thanks to Your Majesty's grace, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism has prospered day by day, and now Your Majesty has summoned 1,200 monks from all over the world to participate in such grand gatherings. ”

Li Shimin smiled and said, "Jingxuan has presided over the award, and I don't deserve this title." After he finished speaking, he turned to the monks and said:

"This grand event is intended to surpass the unjust ghosts who have died in the scourge of war for many years. Therefore, I invited all the senior monks, in tomorrow's Zhongyuan Ghost Festival, when the ghost door is opened, chanting and chanting Buddha, one is the soul of the dead, and the other is praying for the fortune of my Tang Dynasty. ”

In fact, there is no need for Li Shimin to say more, Fahai also knows the cause and effect.

Originally, it was the Dragon King of Jinghe who tampered with the points of rain because he wanted to engage Yuan Shoucheng. Later, under the guidance of Yuan, he asked Li Shimin to intercede for Cao Guan Wei Zheng on his behalf.

But Wei Zheng killed him in a dream, and the ghost of the old dragon king tossed him every now and then because of his hatred for Li Shimin, which made Li Shimin uncertain and his soul was empty, so that he came to the underworld for a day trip.

Li Shimin traveled through the eighteen layers of hell in the underworld, and saw many terrifying and tragic images, and he was very frightened. After returning to his soul, he had the intention of holding this grand event.

Following Fang Cai's words, Li Shimin said:

"But for such a grand event, there must always be a leader, and the six people here today are all great monks with exquisite Buddhist studies. Therefore, I would like to invite you masters to have a Dharma debate first, and the winner will lead the land and water conference. ”

Several eminent monks looked at each other and did not speak for a moment. Everyone knows the weight of Emperor Tang's words. If you can overthrow the monks here and get Li Shimin's favor, it will be as simple as presiding over the water and land conference. All the disciples of Buddhism in the entire Tang Dynasty are afraid that they will be headed by him.

"There is no limit to the topic of this debate, everyone can speak freely, among which the Dharma is high, so let me be a witness. ”

Then a heated Dharma debate unfolded unprepared.

Most of the monks present are Buddhist monks, who are deeply familiar with the concept of Buddhism, with Li Shimin's order, everyone present is what they have learned in their respective lives, and the two mouths are flying up and down, and the Maha Hall is lively for a while.

Of the six eminent monks, only Fahai is out of place with them for two reasons:

First of all, he is just a blank slate for the theory of Buddhism, and it has been more than half a month since he traveled to the present, but have you ever seen him read a Buddhist scripture? Now he is afraid that he can't even memorize a piece of the Bodhicitta Sutra, so how can he talk about debating the scriptures?

Moreover, he was able to give Guanyin an errand when he escorted Tang Seng here, and then as long as he participated in the water and land puja, the 10,000 points of merit value would be in hand.

After all, everything is for the task of the system, and he is not interested in anything else.

The difficult and difficult Buddhist theories were no less than wordless heavenly books for him, Fahai yawned vaguely, simply closed his eyes, and pretended to be in a state of contemplation, but in fact cut off the sound of fierce debate in his ears and took a nap.

The debate lasted for nearly an hour, and in the end, not surprisingly, the young Xuanzang stood out among the senior monks with his unique Buddhist insights and was affirmed by Li Shimin.

"Hehe, I have often heard that Master Xuanzang is a natural Buddha, and he has a very high spiritual wisdom in the world, and now it seems that this is true. ”

"Your Majesty has won the award, Xuanzang is just a little monk, all the masters here today, Buddhism is far better than me, the little monk is just a fluke. ”

Li Shimin shook his head with a smile, and then announced:

"In this case, I announce that tomorrow's grand event, Master Xuanzang should preside over the lecture and chant the scriptures, and several eminent monks have no objections, right?"

Several old monks all surrendered to Xuanzang's profound Buddhist cultivation, and they all nodded yes without objection. Only Fahai still bowed his head and sat quietly, unmoved by Li Shimin's words, and even faintly snoring.

Only then did the monks realize that the reason why he didn't say a word during the debate was because he fell asleep, so they couldn't help but look at each other.

Seeing him like this, Li Shimin's face was also slightly cold, but then he also let out a few dry laughs and said:

"Huh...... It seems that this master is tired, so let's stop here for today. Tomorrow's grand event, I will let the Jingxuan host inform you. ”

After speaking, he stood up, nodded to the senior monks present, and then left accompanied by the host of Jingxuan.

The rest of the monks got up to see each other, only Fahai was still sitting in place and napping, and all the monks were stunned when they saw that he was so disrespectful to the emperor.

Li Shimin walked out of Xiangguo Temple without saying a word, his face was quite gloomy, and when he was about to board the dragon chariot, he suddenly snorted coldly.

The host of Jingxuan turned pale and hurriedly stepped forward to apologize.

"Your Majesty is angry, it is the poor monk's poor arrangement, which makes Na Fahai rude and neglects Your Majesty before driving. ”

"Hmph! I think he's a fame-seeker. This person must have no ink on his chest, so he pretended to sleep and cover up, so he deceived the world and stole his name, and tomorrow's water and land festival told him not to participate. ”

After Li Shimin finished speaking, he flicked the sleeves of his dragon robe, got on the dragon chariot, and left angrily.