Chapter 249: The Poor Monk Argues for Himself

The wonderful existence is divided into two energies, and Lingshan opens Jiuhua!

Jiuzi Mountain in the south of Qingyang County is several thousand feet high, with nine peaks like lotus flowers. It is one of the seventy-two blessed places.

Jin Qiaojue, a monk from Silla, sailed to China, practiced and attained enlightenment in Jiuhua, achieved the status of a Bodhisattva, and manifested the form of Ksitigarbha, and ascended to the upper realm in one fell swoop.

Mount Jiuhua then became the dojo of the Buddhist Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

Over three hundred years later, thousands of people from near and far came to Jiuhua to burn incense every day, shouting and worshipping, and the streets were endless.

Halfway up the mountain, Cao Jie vaguely felt a strong oppressive force coming from the mountain. The vast Buddhist Dharma illuminated the mountains and rivers, and the souls in his body manifested one by one. The talents of [Demon Star] and [Huan Long Clan] were constantly activated.

First, it disturbs the will of heaven and turns the world upside down, and then good fortune comes to you...

Even so, it still cannot stop the erosion of that mysterious force.

Seeing this situation, Cao Jie, who had always been cautious, would never take risks. So he made an excuse to go down the mountain and asked Lu Zhishen to go up the mountain to meet the elders of Jiuhua to discuss the matter of promoting Buddhism.

In Qingyang County at the foot of the mountain, Cao Jie arranged for the "big salt smuggler" Li Jun to meet with the heroes of Shezhou, and the tasks related to Jiangnan for the next year were arranged.

Using private salt dealers as a pointer, Liangshan continued to encroach southwards until it bordered Fang La's forces.

Three days later, Lu Zhishen and Deng Yuanjue finally came down from the mountain.

"Elder, stay!"

Lu Zhishen clasped his hands together, facing the white-bearded elder of Ksitigarbha Temple, he already had some of the appearance of an arhat.

Deng Yuanjue also put his hands together and said, "Leave the matters below the mountain to me! I am not good at other things, but I am quite capable of fighting and killing. But I am afraid that if I commit serious sins of killing, the elders will no longer recognize me as your disciple in the future."

"Yuanjue, just rest assured and follow Zhishen. Although there are countless obstacles and hardships ahead, there is still a glimmer of hope for success. This is your destiny! Don't miss it!"

After the elder finished speaking, he turned to Lu Zhishen and said, "Now that the great catastrophe is approaching, Jiuhua cannot stay out of it, but it cannot take the initiative to provoke the karma of the mortal world. Please ask Zhishen to explain in detail to the star master. Jiuhua will no longer care about the affairs of the mortal world. Just close the mountain gate and recite scriptures to pray for blessings. I hope the world will return to peace!"

Lu Zhishen nodded and said, "I will tell my brother everything the elder has told me to do."

"go Go!"

Looking at the two fat monks' receding backs, a few more old monks appeared around the elder.

"Elder, the warning from the ancestor's golden body shows that the one who came that day was definitely not a good person. Whether it is a demon or a devil, why don't you distinguish it clearly?"

The elder put his hands together and said, "Amitabha, you are obsessed with appearances. In today's world, people are scarier than demons, so why bother about your past life? How many people have been eaten by corrupt officials down there? Aren't they the real demons in the world?"

The monks were speechless.

"Amitabha, I think that monk Zhishen is also the reincarnation of a great demon. Elder Zhizhen of Mount Wutai taught him the true Dharma and tried to convert him to goodness. If that person is also a demon, why didn't the elder convert him?"

The elder shook his head again and said, "Elder Zhizhen has great wisdom and can see the past and future. He saw that Zhishen has great wisdom, so he passed on the true Dharma to him and helped him achieve enlightenment. He did not save him... Besides, what virtue and ability do I have to save that person?"

"Yuan Jue is not inferior to Zhi Shen..."

"That's just force." The elder sighed, "Zhi Shen is a kind man, a wise man, a brave man, a Vajra, an Arhat... Yuan Jue is far inferior to him! This monk will surely be able to attain the Tao and achieve the fruit of the Tao in the future."

The monks looked at each other in bewilderment, thinking that even if they meditated and practiced for a lifetime on the mountain, they would not be able to understand the way of the Nascent Soul, let alone attain the fruit of the Tao. The elder smiled and said, "The deeper you get into an obsession, the harder it is to extricate yourself. How can you see through the illusion? You! It's time to let it go."

"Amitabha!"

An old monk bowed before the elder and said: "Buddhism is in danger now, how can we let it go?"

The elder reached out and tapped the bald head, sighing, "Let go and you will be free. Buddhism will not prosper because of you, nor will it perish because of you. It's just the greed in your heart that's causing trouble... Now that we are in a great catastrophe, it's a good time to retreat and practice. It's not too late for you."

"Elder, are we going to give this Jiuhua land to that person?"

"What if I give in? What if I don't? The mountains are here, the water is there. They belong to the human world, not to you and me. Confucianism says that a rich man helps the world, while a poor man takes care of himself. Do you... or do you... have the ability to help the world?"

The elder shook his head: "Even if I become a baby, what can I do? Can I go down the mountain and kill those corrupt officials one by one? Can I go to the imperial city of Tokyo and force all the civil and military officials and Emperor Zhao to persuade them not to cause chaos in the world? I can do it. As long as I am not afraid of the thunder calamity from the heaven, what can I not do!"

"But what can we do? It will only change someone else to cause trouble. The situation in the world will only get worse..."

"The only ones who can bring ruin to this world are these ambitious demons and monsters. As long as he can give the people enough food to eat and clothes to wear, even if he was a demon in his previous life, he can become a Bodhisattva in this life."

“If a prosperous era comes, I will debate the sutras for it!”

…………

In the county town at the foot of the mountain, Lu Zhishen told everything.

Cao Jie felt quite sorry that Mount Wutai was closed off from worldly affairs, and Mount Jiuhua was also closed off from worldly affairs.

These monks would go up the mountain to avoid disaster when they encountered troubled times, but fortunately they left all the territory and power at the foot of the mountain to Deng Yuanjue, which was equivalent to giving it to Liangshan for free.

"Brother Cao, I, Deng Yuanjue, am good at fighting and killing, but I don't know how to manage this huge Chizhou and half of Shezhou. If I leave it alone, it will be occupied by Manichaeism sooner or later."

"Master Yuanjue, if you trust me, Cao Jie, I can help you."

"Just tell me, I'll listen to you."

"It's actually very simple. If you give the people in the mountainous areas a way to survive, they will naturally support you and become loyal followers of Buddhism."

"This..." Deng Yuanjue was very embarrassed. If Buddhism had a way to save the world, how could it have fallen to this point.

"Most of the people in the mountainous areas are refugees. What they lack is salt and daily necessities."

Deng Yuanjue nodded his head and said, "There is indeed a shortage of salt in the mountains. I have seen many white-haired women in the mountains of Shezhou. Those who escaped really did not live a human life. They didn't even have clothes."

"So, after all the twists and turns, we finally ended up with smuggled salt."

Cao Jie smiled and said, "Give me two months, and I will make sure that the people in Jiuhua Mountain area can eat cheap salt. Give me three months, and I can deliver a batch of iron tools to the mountain area to help the escaped households to reclaim wasteland in the mountains. That will be the spring ploughing season. Give me another six months, and I can smuggle in medicinal herbs and some daily necessities...

In just one year, the deep mountains can become a paradise."

Cao Jie is not a man of empty promises, he is a man of action.

Around the "Big Salt Smuggler" project, operations are started at high speed.

(End of this chapter)