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墨書 Inktalez
In a dark alley, Li Xiaonan clutched her chest with one hand while struggling with the other, shouting angrily, "You filthy monk, let me go! Just because you look good doesn't mean you can bully me!"
Heart's Desire smiled gently and replied, "Little girl, regardless of the circumstances, I saved you from the tiger's den. Otherwise, your innocence would surely be lost at this moment."
Tears still streaked down Li Xiaonan's face, and her shirt had been torn open, exposing a large expanse of fair skin. She tried to cover herself, but her impressive figure made it impossible to hide completely.
Heart's Desire sighed softly, his lips moved slightly, and the torn fabric magically tied itself into a bow at Li Xiaonan's chest. Finally feeling relieved, she thought that although he was a man at heart, she didn't want anyone to see her body in its feminine state.
"What is your name, young lady?"
Li Xiaonan looked up and finally took a good look at the handsome monk who had appeared so suddenly. Standing at about five foot nine, he was indeed strikingly tall and graceful, with an air of elegance. His features were refined, with red lips and white teeth; he bore some resemblance to Tang Xuanzang from Journey to the West.
"My name is Li Xiaobei. What is your Dharma name, Master?"
Heart's Desire smiled without answering and nodded slightly.
Strange things happen every year, but this year seemed particularly odd. That night at Spring Blossom Pavilion, two bizarre events occurred: first, a stunning beauty came to visit the brothel, followed by a Great Monk who came to snatch her away—truly strange indeed.
"The Great Monk is not very forthcoming; you won't even tell me your name..." Li Xiaonan rubbed her sore wrist where he had grabbed her and sighed inwardly. So this is what it feels like to be a woman—an overwhelming sense of helplessness washed over her. Those women around her had it tough; she resolved to treat them better in the future!
"My Dharma name is Heart's Desire; I am not really a master."
Li Xiaonan glanced at Heart's Desire, who wore a smile at the corner of his mouth, and scoffed, "How vulgar! With someone like you, how can you even call yourself a monk?"
"Oh? What do you mean by that?"
Li Xiaonan leaned against a stone wall, the sudden chill behind him jolting his mind awake. The unexpected arrival of the Great Monk seemed harmless, but it was clear he had come for him. "Master is just a title; there's no need for a monk to be so particular about trivialities. You can call me Xiao Bei, no need for all this 'benefactor' nonsense. I've been poor since childhood and have never offered anything to the Buddha."
Heart's Desire mirrored Li Xiaonan's posture, leaning against the opposite wall. "Oh? By your reasoning, benefactor is also just a title, and the young lady shouldn't be so particular either."
Li Xiaonan curled his lip; he hated when others used his words against him. "The master is an enlightened being, while I am merely an ordinary woman, lacking the master's grace and insight. What exactly do you seek from Xiao Bei?" He was too lazy to engage in wordplay with Heart's Desire and decided to get straight to the point.
The smile in Heart's Desire's eyes deepened. "Little North, do you see that branch? Is it moving?"
Li Xiaonan followed his finger and looked over at a Bodhi Tree trembling in the wind. Goodness, what an ancient metaphor... and now it's happening to me.
He scoffed dismissively. "Are you trying to say that if the wind doesn't blow, the tree doesn't move? That it's the ordinary heart that stirs?"
A glint of excitement flashed in Heart's Desire's eyes as he nodded repeatedly.
"Hah!" Li Xiaonan's lips twitched; he had heard this saying from his grandmother when he was five years old. Even now, he found it overly idealistic—complete nonsense.
"The young lady truly has a connection with Buddhism. May I ask where you learned this? How did you injure Qing An?" Heart's Desire stepped closer to Li Xiaonan.
"Do you believe me if I say I learned it on my own?" Li Xiaonan thought to himself: I guessed right; none of them are good news. What should I do now? I can't run away, and who knows if Little Jin has finished dealing with things over there? Come save your boss! Forget it; even if he comes, he'll probably be taken by the old monk too. Better rely on myself!
"A monk does not speak falsehoods," Heart's Desire said, pressing his palms together in greeting.
"I'm not a monk, but I'm not lying either. Qing An was the first monk I met here; you are the second. As for how Qing An got hurt... Avalokiteshvara, when practicing deep Prajnaparamita, perceives that all five aggregates are empty and transcends all suffering. Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness; emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness; emptiness is form..."
Li Xiaonan recited the Heart Sutra in one breath. He noticed Heart's Desire's expression shift from surprise to joy, but aside from that, there was no other change. He sighed helplessly; well, without True Essence Power, the Heart Sutra was just decoration...
“Little North, is this Avalokiteshvara your master?” Heart's Desire beamed with joy, her cheeks slightly flushed as she unconsciously leaned closer to Li Xiaonan, the two of them pressed tightly together. “Would Little North like to come to the courtyard for a chat?”
Li Xiaonan felt a dark cloud over his head and wanted to step back, but unfortunately, he was already pressed against the wall. “Master Heart's Desire, I truly do not have a master. This scripture came to me in a dream one day, so… I hope you won’t press me further…” Li Xiaonan's expression was one of despair.
Heart's Desire sighed, took two steps back, and nodded. “It was my recklessness. I am Heart's Desire, the 208th successor of Zen Buddhism. I greet you, Li Little North.”
Li Xiaonan was taken aback. Zen Buddhism? The Zen Buddhism of the Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism? Could it be…
Seeing his unusual expression, Heart's Desire became even more convinced that Li Xiaonan was indeed someone of Buddhism.
Li Xiaonan glanced in the direction of Spring Blossom Pavilion. The secrets of Buddhism were far too tempting for someone like him who had come from Earth. He frowned and said, “Master, I’m hungry…”
“Hehe, my disciple has already prepared a meal for you, young lady. Please follow me…”
Li Xiaonan nodded and followed Heart's Desire through a winding path into a Golden Temple. He shook his head; before he could speak, Heart's Desire said, “Alas… my disciple Huinian, I have taught him well, but I never expected that after decades apart, he would go astray.”
As they entered the temple, a monk with a square face approached them with a frown. “Master! Is this the Demoness who harmed Qing An?” This man was indeed Qing An’s master, Huinian, the national teacher of Han Jade City.
Li Xiaonan couldn’t help but laugh out loud; this person looked too amusing with that square face—how could anyone not find it funny? “Look at him! He looks just like this ‘囧’!”
“You!” Huinian raised his hand as if to strike.
Li Xiaonan was startled and quickly hid behind Heart's Desire. Heart's Desire shot a glare at Huinian. “Unruly disciple, cease your rudeness!”
Huinian immediately composed himself, joined his hands in prayer, and bowed respectfully as he led the two into a room.
"Little North, eat slowly... there's more if you need it," Heart's Desire said with a smile, watching Li Xiaonan devour her food.
Hui Nian wore a bewildered expression; he had never seen a woman eat in such a manner, which was truly a shame given her beauty.
Sitting across from Li Xiaonan, Qing An had his eyes closed, holding Peach Wood Prayer Beads in his left hand while guiding the beads with his right, murmuring scriptures under his breath.
Li Xiaonan sniffed and sucked a leafy vegetable into her mouth, then patted the table. "Little Monk, don't chant scriptures while eating. You can't focus on two things at once! Or do you think my eating is too unsightly?" With that, she shoved another large helping of food into her mouth.
Qing An abruptly halted his actions and shook his head. "I wouldn't dare..."
"What do you mean you wouldn't dare? You wouldn't dare to stop chanting? You wouldn't dare to eat? Or you wouldn't dare to look at me?" Li Xiaonan felt annoyed by this wooden figure and pressed on.
Seeing Qing An keep his eyes shut and remain silent, she shook her head while chewing on the vegetables. "To know is to know; to not know is to not know—that is knowledge. To dare is to dare; to not dare is to not dare—that is courage."
Qing An suddenly opened his eyes and stared blankly at Li Xiaonan, his expression somewhat complicated. The other two at the table fell into contemplation as well. Li Xiaonan secretly found it amusing that she had managed to confuse them. It seemed that Buddhism here was not as profound as that on Earth. Could it be... that the teachings of Buddha originated from somewhere else? And what about that guitar from Fairy Island...
When two coincidences connected, they ceased to be coincidences. What exactly was this Starry Illusion Continent?
"Little North's words have greatly benefited us," Heart's Desire said with a smile at the corner of his mouth. "If the young lady were not a woman..."
Li Xiaonan put down her chopsticks and looked coldly at him. "Master, how can you be so old-fashioned? Buddhism teaches equality among all beings—between humans and animals, and between men and women. Moreover, I did not choose my gender; everything has its destined course."
"You speak truly; you are indeed a person of refined character and eloquence," Heart's Desire nodded repeatedly, even Hui Nian's expression changed slightly as he looked at him.
Seeing that the atmosphere was pleasant, Li Xiaonan subtly remarked, "Master, I have traveled to many places, but this is my first encounter with Buddhism. If it weren't for Qing An capturing me earlier, I wouldn't have recalled those scriptures from my dream."
Heart's Desire nodded and began to recount the matter of Zen Buddhism.
The practice of Buddhism is extremely difficult. Compared to the cultivation on the Starry Illusion Continent, it places greater emphasis on the refinement of the heart. Buddhism is divided into five stages: Human Vehicle, Heavenly Vehicle, Sound Hearer Vehicle, Pratyekabuddha Vehicle, and Buddha Vehicle. The Human Vehicle is the foundation, which involves being a good person. Many Buddhist disciples fail at this first stage.
Either they cannot maintain their true intentions, or their cultivation level is too low to succeed. After all, doing good deeds also requires strength, and those at the Human Vehicle stage are often not even comparable to those in the Foundation Stage of Cultivators.
Thus, in Heart's Desire's generation, the already few Buddhist disciples had dwindled even further. Moreover, there was no mention of Buddhism on the Starry Illusion Continent, primarily due to the great war between Buddhism and Taoism millions of years ago. The Taoists, relying on their numbers and strength, led to the complete decline of Buddhism.
This part of history is not glorious; later generations did not record it, and it gradually faded into obscurity over time. Only the direct descendants of Buddhist disciples are aware of this matter.
To this day, Buddhism has lost too much in terms of cultivation methods and magical artifacts. Some remnants remain only as fragments. According to Heart's Desire, no Buddhist inheritor in recent decades has achieved ascension; thus, the Western Paradise has become a mere legend.
Li Xiaonan couldn't help but frown. Although Heart's Desire had shared much information, it was not what he sought. Was it possible that the Starry Illusion Continent was merely a parallel universe to Earth, with Buddhism's existence being nothing more than coincidence?
"Little North... actually, I came to find you today because we have a request," Heart's Desire said after finishing the story and transitioning to the main topic.
"Please speak, Master."
"I have a sacred place in Buddhism, but later generations lack insight and have yet to unlock it. We would like to ask you to give it a try..."
Li Xiaonan was taken aback and pointed at herself in confusion. "Me?"
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