Mysterious Martial Arts: The Record of the Swordsman

Chapter 271: Viewing the Void and Disliking the Tangible

Chapter 271: Viewing the Void and Disliking the Tangible

Next to Guanghua Temple in Chong'an County, there is a small shop with the name Wu's Pharmacy. Although the shop is small, the Nancheng Wu family relies on selling Chinese medicinal materials and has also opened medicine shops in Chong'an County and Xiamei. It is said that they are also closely related to Fuzhou Huichuntang run by the cloth merchant Wu.

At this time, Tian Qingwen was pulling Xiao Shitou relentlessly, and was going to find the eldest senior brother of the Jingqi Sect. Zhao Erguan put down his fishing rod and followed the two of them closely. However, he did not expect that the majestic figure in the black robe, green boots and holding a token last night was just a doctor in a pharmacy on weekdays. At this moment, he was twisting a silver needle in his hand and frowning as he took a patient's pulse.

He heard a group of people coming in noisily outside, then he slowly raised his head, revealing a kind face with a prominent nose and a broad forehead. He was wearing a thick cotton suit, and looked no different from an ordinary person in the market.

"Junior Sister Tian, ​​hey, what are you doing?"

Qiu Jiuzhang, the eldest senior brother of the Jingqi Sect, was looking at her with a headache, and then he ordered his apprentice to take the patient to get medicine first, and then he pushed open the door of the shop to let several people in one after another.

Tian Qingwen said directly: "Big Brother, I want to rescue people from Hanba's hands! I want to ask you for a solution!"

Qiu Jiuzhang glanced at Xiao Shitou and saw Zhao Erguan who was in a panic last night. He already had some understanding in his heart, but when he heard what Tian Qingwen said, he could only sigh.

"Junior Sister Tian, ​​do you know what I do?"

Tian Qingwen said loudly: "Doctor."

"What about the second and third brothers?"

"It seems to be the butcher and the accountant. What's wrong?"

"You know it, but you're still asking!"

Qiu Jiuzhang slammed the table, puffed his beard and glared, poked his finger directly on his nose, and said in a decisive tone.

"Since the death of our old leader, we can't find anyone in the Jingqi Sect who knows magic or yin and yang. There's no one in the sect who can beat you in martial arts. So tell me, who among these people can help you? As long as you ask, I'll send them to you!"

Tian Qingwen was quite discouraged by what senior brother Qiu Jiuzhang said. Then the doctor, who was not young at all, kept on nagging about all the truths and falsehoods of the Jingqi Sect. Judging from Tian Qingwen's annoyed and angry expression, this was not the first time he had been nagging.

Qiu Jiuzhang told everyone that the Jingqi Sect came to Chong'an County at the end of the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. In fact, it was a branch of the migrant sect in Jiangxi and Fujian. Except for the old leader Zhang who traveled far and wide in his early years and knew some magic spells and talismans, the rest of the people who came with them were just displaced paper trough workers and indigo farmers. The various people recruited into the sect later were all small families in Chong'an County.

The name of the Jingqi Sect is strange, and the only way to practice is to eat vegetarian food and chant scriptures. This is because the old leader said that in his early years there was a farmhand who was bullied by his master. He had to rely on vegetables and coarse grains to fill his stomach every day, and he had to work like a horse every day without any rest. But by chance, it was during these three years of abstaining from meat and living a pure and austere life that the farmhand got his karma paid off, completed his merits, and went to the Western Paradise to become a Buddha.

The old leader witnessed this incident with his own eyes. He always talked about it, saying that it is just as the saying goes, "Eat white rice for three years and then pick up the incense burner to go to the West." The top practitioners meditate and worship Buddha, while we ordinary people observe the fast, recite scriptures, and keep our hearts pure and desires few. That is the best way to accumulate blessings in this world.

Therefore, after arriving in Chong'an County to start a sect and recruit disciples, the old leader did not set any rules. He only said that all those who joined the sect, regardless of whether they were close or distant, male or female, old or young, should be called "brothers and sisters" and help each other in times of trouble and do charity. However, since the old leader passed away a few years ago, the Jingqi Sect has no one to make decisions, and can only be managed by three brothers who have the support of the villagers.

Among them, the eldest brother Qiu Jiuzhang is the "chief commander", responsible for organizing the believers to recite scriptures and hold candlelight meetings to ferry people across the country on fasting days every month; the second brother Chen Guiheng is the "flag bearer", who is honest and fair in butchering pigs and selling meat on weekdays, so he is responsible for resolving grievances and disputes and upholding justice for everyone in the Jingqi Sect; the third brother Zhu Minxiu is the "seal bearer", because he has the ability of mental arithmetic, he is responsible for allocating the sect's expenses and property every ten days, and registering them in different categories.

"Junior Sister Tian, ​​I made an exception and accepted you into the sect because I saw that you are very skilled in martial arts. Now people outside are still in a panic because of the drought demon. What can I do?"

Qiu Jiuzhang earnestly explained the little assets of the Jingqi Sect. He then pushed away the medicine bowl and paper on the table, spread his hands to show that he was powerless, and even tried to persuade Tian Qingwen.

"Besides, you should know the level of the kung fu of that young man last night. Even he suffered a lot last night. What can you do if you go there, Junior Sister?"

But Tian Qingwen was not someone who gave up easily. Seeing that the other party didn't say anything, she simply stayed where she was and kept making a fuss, saying that if her senior brother didn't make a decision today, she would live and eat here with a few others.

Qiu Jiuzhang glanced at Xiao Shitou and wondered how much a child of this age could eat. He was just annoyed by Tian Qingwen's unreasonable behavior. He knew that there was no way to resolve the situation today, so he had to patiently explain to them.

"Hey, it's no use for you to argue here. Let me ask you, do you know how this drought demon came about?"

The three of them shook their heads.

"According to the Shuowen, Ba is the ghost of drought. And in the Shenyijing, it is recorded that the country that Ba saw suffered from severe drought, with a thousand miles of barren land, and was also called the Mother of Drought. In this world, wind and thunder are born from each other, and water and fire collide with each other. This is natural. Ba is the image of the extreme fire born from heaven, so it is natural that the land will be barren for a thousand miles."

Qiu Jiuzhang twirled his beard and spoke in a literary manner. As a doctor, he was naturally literate, and he was in charge of the strange books left behind by the old leader when he passed away, so he was even more familiar with these miraculous stories.

"It is said that at the end of the Tang Dynasty, when our Chong'an County was still called Chong'an Field, there was already a natural fire cave left over from the beginning of the universe. A corpse fell into it at some point, and over time, the bones did not decay. Eventually, it cultivated into a monster, and turned into a drought demon, causing trouble everywhere."

"Fortunately, there was a reincarnated Pratyeka Buddha here at that time. He opened the fire hole and drove away the drought demon, thus saving the people of the city. Do you know what this Pratyeka Buddha is called? His Dharma name is "Zao Guang". He once bathed in ice in the snow on a cold day, so we call him "Koubing Lao Buddha" here."

Qiu Jiuzhang suddenly changed the subject and talked about something off topic.

"So you see, since the old Buddha is "Zao Guang" and also known as "Kou Bing", he can naturally overcome fire with water. This is the principle of the unity of all things. Ordinary people do not seek to understand it, but they do not know that there must be a reason for it, but people cannot know it."

Tian Qingwen only understood half of what he heard, and fearing that the other party was going off topic, he quickly asked: "Big Brother, since water can overcome fire, why don't we lead the drought demon into the water and drown it?"

Little Stone suddenly woke up from his dream and seemed to remember the experience of being stewed in the iron pot. He suddenly said, "No. Water can also be boiled into water when it meets fire."

Qiu Jiuzhang was also very disgusted and said: "You are talking about logic and claiming to be an expert in the nature of yin and yang. You are a bit like a Song Dynasty scholar. You are not as smart as a child! Let alone where the drought demon will go to find it, just the "ordinary water" in the ditches and roads is not comparable to the "pure water" of the incarnation of Pratyekabuddha. If you go there rashly, it will be like a drop in the bucket."

Tian Qingwen was targeted one after another, and said unconvincedly: "Then... let's go find the "Koubing Buddha" for help! As long as the temple burns more incense, I don't believe that he is a compassionate monk and will not help others?"

"Well, what you said was also thought of by Zhao Yan, the magistrate of Chong'an County in the first year of Kangding in the former Song Dynasty."

Qiu Jiuzhang leaned on the table and said with great regret, "The 'Koubing Old Buddha' has been a monk for eighty-four years, and the Dharmakaya stupa has suppressed the drought demon for a hundred years. However, when Zhao County Magistrate took office, the drought demon was already stirring. When he arrived in Chong'an County, according to the county annals, "the land was not completely deserted, and the people had not yet given adequate care. Even though the land was flat and open near the city, and the land was fertile and fertile, the people all suffered from the drought and abandoned it"..."

Qiu Jiuzhang told everyone that at first, County Magistrate Zhao Yan only thought that Chong'an County was located in a remote mountainous area, with high soil and low water levels, which led to a long drought. He began to dig a canal for irrigation. However, not long after the laborers were recruited, strange things happened outside the city. Fires often broke out in the dry fields in the middle of the night, and there were even inhuman beings covered in flames, burning down houses and fields, and finally even burning to the foot of Chong'an City.

Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty boasted that they had thoroughly explored the principles of nature, but whenever they encountered something that was inexplicable, they would arbitrarily conclude that it was nothing. However, they did not know that the real "principle" is that everything exists in this world. Inspired by these clues and rumors from the villagers, he finally guessed that the drought demon must be the cause.

At this time, Zhao Yan naturally found the Ruiyan Zen Temple outside the city. However, the Buddhist temple left by the "Koubing Old Buddha" was incomplete and dilapidated, and the monks in the temple did not know much about it. It was enough to show that the Pratyekabuddha was a solitary and enlightened being, like a unicorn horn standing alone in the world. His real body had long gone away, and the Taoist tradition he left behind had already declined. No wonder the drought demon would grow secretly.

"Before the death of 'Koubing Old Buddha', he pointed out the location of the Hongmeng Fire Cave for future generations. It is also the lifeline of the drought demon, and he left a map of 'using water to overcome fire'. As long as the fire essence is slowly drained away through the canal, the disaster of the drought demon can naturally be broken."

"Prefect Zhao Yan was overjoyed, but he didn't know that the monks in the temple had been occupying the mountains, secretly recruiting tenants, and even raising a number of monk soldiers. In order to seize the good farmland outside the city and protect their own monk property, they secretly tampered with the river map and changed the original river course around the city to pass through the city. As a result, although this plan solved the problem temporarily, it could not really solve the disaster."

As Qiu Jiuzhang finished speaking, everyone's eyes drifted towards the quiet canal that passed through the city. They had never imagined that this unremarkable little river had such a complicated story behind it.

"Ah? Those monks are so cunning and rampant?"

Tian Qingwen said in disbelief.

Qiu Jiuzhang smiled coldly: "Hearing is not believing, seeing is believing. They have colluded with the government for many years, from small things like ordering monks to beat the drums in the watchtower to big things like..."

Qiu Jiuzhang coughed and spoke to them in a low voice.

"You can go to Zuiganji Temple and see if they have a group of monks who guard the temple and only look after the tea fields under their name every day—"

Having said that, Qiu Jiuzhang picked up a handful of medicine powder, gathered it into a fine bundle, and put it into the medicine bowl and began to pound it.

"Eight years ago, that group of monks bewitched the county magistrate Yin Yingyin and invited monks from Huangshan to make Jian tea using the pine basket method. They wanted the county magistrate to convert all the rice fields outside the city into tea fields. If it weren't for the old leader Zhang threatening to burn himself to death, would we have been able to eat the tea leaves alone? How many people starved to death during the war and famine in the past few years?"

As Qiu Jiuzhang talked further and further away, Tian Qingwen shook his head, remembered the purpose of his trip, and quickly interrupted him.

"No, no, big brother, I came here to ask you where to find Hanba, why did you bring up the monk?"

Qiu Jiuzhang burst out laughing: "Haha, Senior Brother, I am indeed a bit long-winded, but I don't want you kids to die."

Then he thought for a long time, and finally put down the medicine bowl as if he had made up his mind.

"All things are born according to the law. Although Hanba is born with supernatural powers and can make rain, he is still a ghost after all. The atmosphere is regulated by the earth, and water and soil are both transformed by yin energy. Hanba is afraid of water, so he must hide underground during the day."

"I saw a field in front of Zuigan Temple. There was a mound in the field, and on the mound there were more than ten huge trees. It looked like a ghost cave. Perhaps there are clues there?"

Tian Qingwen was overjoyed. He grabbed the little stone and ran out of the pharmacy without even saying hello. Zhao Erguan followed closely behind him. Only the eldest brother Qiu Jiuzhang was still shaking his head in the spot, not noticing that the three had already run out.

"Hmm... In my opinion, the name of the Jingqi Sect given by Master Zhang is really meaningless."

"Since ancient times, Heaven is the most respected and Reason is the source. All things in the world are born according to Reason. It should be renamed Tianli Sect..."

(End of this chapter)