Chapter 26 – My Buddha Does Not Save the Poor
“What kind of ‘immortal’ is this?!”
Chou Bodeng rested his elbow on the ship’s railing, propping up his head as he looked down.
“Forget it, let’s just go.”
The Heavenly Snow Boat descended to a height of about ten zhang from the ground, and they could clearly see the source of the wild singing and miserable screams—it was a monk in tattered clothes, a large string of Buddhist beads hanging around his neck. He was standing barefoot on a large rock, holding a pair of straw sandals, jumping up and down and waving his hands frantically. Judging by his appearance…
Chou Bodeng would bet he hadn’t bathed in at least six or seven days.
What was the difference between rescuing such an “immortal” and letting a level-ten air pollutant onto the flying boat?
“Eh?” Lu Jing stretched his neck to look down. “Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. Are we really not going to do anything?”
“You’re from Medicine Valley, what pagoda are you building here?” Chou Bodeng said. “Doesn’t the Buddhist Sect always talk about ‘entering calamity with one’s body’? I see this man as a great monk who is cutting his flesh to feed souls. We shouldn’t disturb his attainment of enlightenment!”
“Young Master Chou has a truly brilliant perspective!” Zuo Yuesheng, after getting a clear look at the monk’s face, turned his back with a smack. “This guy is like cowhide candy stuck to the sole of your shoe. Whoever gets stuck with him knows! Let’s go, let’s go, back to rolling dice.”
Seeing the flying boat hover for a moment and then start to ascend again, truly intending to turn and leave, the monk below tore at his sleeves and shouted, “Benefactors! Twin Kui Dragons! Three Lives Flower! Nine Dragons Cauldron!”
The three who were walking shoulder-to-shoulder back to the gambling table all stopped in their tracks.
Zuo Yuesheng’s expression became solemn. “The Mountain Sea Pavilion has a good relationship with the Buddhist Sect. It would probably be difficult to explain if we just let him die.”
Lu Jing said earnestly, “I told you, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.”
Chou Bodeng frowned unhappily, pulled out a handkerchief, and tied it over his face, covering his mouth and nose completely. Then he waved to Lou Jiang and Ye Cang, who were waiting on the other side, signaling them to retrieve the man. Lou Jiang sighed and reluctantly lowered the flying boat again.
For a rare moment, Lou Jiang’s opinion aligned with that of these young masters.
…He didn’t really want to pull up the guy from below either.
“Amitabha, how virtuous, how virtuous,” the monk said, boarding the flying boat and feigning a bow with his palms together. The monk was actually quite handsome, but his eyes were almost green with hunger. Right now, he could probably chew on a table leg. “This humble monk, in order to vanquish a demon, has been standing guard in this place for more than ten days, my spirit and strength exhausted. I ask that you benefactors be so kind as to spare some food to fill my belly.”
Lou Jiang let out a long sigh, feeling a headache coming on.
That’s right, with this level of cultivation to be able to stay in the miasma fog for ten days, and with that tone… it could only be that one from the Buddhist Sect.
Chou Bodeng stood far from the ravenously eating monk, pinching his nose as he asked Zuo Yuesheng, “What kind of mortal dust clouded Zen Master Wuchen’s eyes back then, to have tonsured such a weirdo?”
Following Zuo Yuesheng and Lou Jiang, Chou Bodeng also recognized who this bald donkey was, the one who squatted in the fog instead of staying in his precious temple:
The Buddhist Saint of the Buddhist Sect, Monk Pudu.
Or, perhaps, he should be called “Monk Budu.”
If one had to say, this Budu bald donkey’s experience was somewhat similar to Chou Bodeng’s.
Back then, the top monk of the Buddhist Sect, Zen Master Wuchen, was traveling the world and picked up an infant with a Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart and a natural Root of Wisdom. This Zen Master Wuchen’s understanding of Zen was profound. He had previously believed that the Buddhist dharma existed to save the world, and was willing to teach and guide anyone who wished to convert, regardless of their background, as long as their nature was good. The master-disciple relationship was just a worldly concept, so he had never taken a personal disciple. It could be said that it was Zen Master Wuchen’s fate to encounter this infant with such a “karmic bond” with Buddha. The infant’s talent was so high and his spirituality so remarkable that even the Zen Master was moved, making an exception to take the infant as his disciple and naming him “Pudu.”
From the name “Pudu,” which means universal salvation, one could see the grand expectations Zen Master Wuchen had for his precious disciple.
At first, the little monk Pudu did not disappoint Zen Master Wuchen’s expectations. He could memorize numerous Buddhist scriptures after a single reading. Whether it was martial arts or Zen philosophy, he understood with a single hint. He even learned one of the Buddhist Sect’s most profound secret arts: Observing All Beings, which allowed him to see a person’s past. The Buddhist Sect, also blinded by his talent, didn’t bother to investigate further and appointed him as the contemporary Buddhist Saint.
Once he became the Buddhist Saint, according to tradition, he had to go out into the mortal world to travel, save people, and accumulate merit to forge a Golden Body.
The trouble started with this “Buddhist Saint’s travels.”
Zen Master Wuchen and the other monks of the Buddhist Sect looked at the young talents of the major Immortal Sects, fully expecting the Buddhist Saint Pudu to quickly rank among the top—at least in the top ten. And sure enough, within three months, this Buddhist Saint had galloped ahead of the pack and made it onto a list, and his position was quite high, second only to the top, which could be considered “living up to expectations.”
—If that list wasn’t the Profligate Rankings, also known as the Scum of the Immortal Sects list.
“So it’s him,” Lu Jing realized. “I remember there was also a famous… ‘something crossing, something not crossing’?”
“Three Crossings and Three Non-Crossings,” Zuo Yuesheng said casually while calculating something. “Gold is crossed, copper is not. Silver is crossed, iron is not. Jade is crossed, stone is not.”
There were six main types of currency circulating in the Twelve Continents: jade coins, gold ingots, silver snow, copper plates, iron sabers, and stone cents. Gold, silver, and jade were valuable; copper, iron, and stone were cheap. In other words, this Buddhist Saint exclusively saved the rich. The poor had “no karmic bond.” With the “Three Crossings and Three Non-Crossings” saying, the Buddhist Saint instantly became famous throughout the Twelve Continents. People no longer called him Monk Pudu, but “Monk Budu,” the monk who doesn’t save.
“This is what they call ‘My Buddha doesn’t save the poor,’ I suppose.”
Chou Bodeng summarized.
“A fine ‘My Buddha doesn’t save the poor,'” Monk Budu, having swept the table clean of food like a whirlwind, came over enthusiastically. “This must be Benefactor Chou, the top of the rankings. I’ve long heard of your great name, long heard of your great name!”
Chou Bodeng gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “It hasn’t been that long. I only got to the top of the list last year. You flatter me, you flatter me.”
“Not at all, not at all.”
Monk Budu put his palms together, his smile radiant. After his earth-shattering “Help me” howl, he knew his plan to act like a “hidden master” had failed. If he wanted to deepen his relationship with these benefactors who had a strong karmic bond with Buddha, he had to try another method.
First, he had to reverse the unfavorable impression he had made earlier.
“Benefactor, do you know that you will soon face a calamity of bloodshed?” Monk Budu strove to say something shocking. “This humble monk has long practiced the Buddhist Sect’s art of ‘Observing Visages.’ I can know a person’s past and future. When I was traveling here, I suddenly felt a palpitation in my heart. I opened my wisdom eye to observe the next three days and saw that two… three of you will die in Ru City!”
Second, he had to feign profundity.
Throw out a convincing Buddhist secret art, then reveal his “prophetic” side.
The tone had to be low, with rises and falls.
Monk Budu confidently awaited the reactions of Chou Bodeng and the other two. Whether they questioned the reality of the “calamity of bloodshed” or were curious about how he knew they would pass through here, he had ways to lead into the next part.
“Should we throw him off?”
Chou Bodeng rummaged through the pills he had won from Lu Jing these past few days, looking for something that could serve as an air freshener… Lu Jing loved to gamble, but not only was his luck bad, his math wasn’t great either. In the past few days, almost all the pills he carried had been won by Chou Bodeng and Zuo Yuesheng.
“A jar of wine is four taels of silver, two plates of Yunlai vegetables are two taels of silver, three saucers of water-shuttle flowers…” Zuo Yuesheng, having found an abacus from somewhere, was clattering away, calculating how much Monk Budu had just eaten. “In total… fifty-two taels of snow silver. Are you paying with silver, or will you use your Buddhist beads as collateral?”
“…” Monk Budu couldn’t believe it. “Hey, hey, hey! You’re going to face a calamity of bloodshed in three days! This humble monk has painstakingly squatted in the miasma fog for over ten days. Even if you don’t appreciate my sincerity, you should at least care about your own lives, right?”
“A calamity of bloodshed?” Lu Jing was a little hesitant, turning to look at Chou Bodeng. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”
Chou Bodeng didn’t even look up.
“There’s a kind of street scam that goes like this: first, you pretend to be an extraordinary person, then you find a rich person and tell them, ‘You will have a calamity of bloodshed on such-and-such a date. If you give me so-and-so much silver, I can help you resolve it.’ If that person doesn’t believe you, the scammer will send some lackeys to scare them on that date. When the rich person encounters a ghost as expected, they’ll think the scammer really has a way of knowing the future… Ye Cang! Come here and throw this scammer off for this Martial Ancestor!”